We use ultrafast laser techniques
to explore nanophotonics, to investigate cancer biology, and
to create new diagnostic and therapeutic uses of light
News
A monograph of Tzu-Ming LIU has been published by American Institute of Physics Publishing.
Vessel penetrating phosphorescence probes bind collagen to report tissue oxygenation in vivo (Advanced Science volume 8, 2102788, 2021)
The third harmonic generation angiography with FeOOH materials has been selected as the back cover story of the journal Small (Vol. 15, Issue 20, 2019).
Medical device team CATYDID from Tzu-Ming LIU’s Lab won the silver prize in 2018 Guangdong Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition
The milestone paper of the Lab reviews the design thinking of laser sources, imaging methods, and nano materials for the theranosics of cancer.
Lab leader, Tzu-Ming Liu, moves from Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University to Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau.
Tzu-Ming Liu led medical device team Morcellbag win the potential startup award.
Tzu-Ming Liu led medical device team EpiFaith to win the Excellent Startup Awards of FITI, Taiwan.
New website launched! Please feel free to let us know what you think.
Opening Position
We are hiring research assistant with background of electrical engineering or optics.
Research Direction
Imaging Cytometry of Leukocytes
In vivo study of leukocytes is challenging due to its nature of fast trafficking, multiple lineages, frequent cell-cell interactions, and dynamic activation or maturation in a process of immune response. People commonly used confocal or multiphoton fluorescence microscopy to track labeled cells and study their in vivo dynamics and microenvironments of immune system at a high spatial and […]
Melanoma Microenvironment
More and more evidences have shown that the development and metastasis of tumors rely on the support of micro-environments around them. The constitution of micro-environment include the collagen, vessels, immune cells, and resident cells. In order to work out the strategies for cancer treatment, we need to understand the underlying dynamics and interaction among those […]
Bilirubin Molecular Imaging
Based on an infrared femtosecond Cr:forsterite laser, we developed a semi-quantitative method to analyze the microscopic distribution of bilirubins. Using 1230 nm femtosecond pulses, for the first time, we found bilirubin dimers can emit two-photon red fluorescence around 660 nm. Autofluorescences from other endogenous fluorophores were greatly suppressed in this situation. Using this distinct fluorescence […]
Ultrafast Laser Engineering
Our lab has practical experiences in the engineering of ultrafast lasers for various scientific and medical applications. Ultrafast lasers exploit nonlinear optical properties of gain media to produce picosecond (10-12 sec) to femtosecond (10-15 sec) light pulses. Such laser sources have instantaneous intense electric fields that can launch impulse response of material systems. With a help […]
Nanophotonics
When metallic or semiconductive materials go downs to nanometer scales, surface plasmon resonance or quantum confined effect can result in enhanced local electric fields, thus the efficiency of nonlinear optical processes. When the size further goes downs to cluster scales (hundreds of atoms), metallic materials may become semiconductive and can give fluorescence after excitation. We […]
In vivo Nonlinear Optical Microscopy
When using infrared lasers (800-1300nm), scattering and absorption loss can be greatly reduce for in vivo microscopy, thus achiving deep tissue observation. To improve spatial resolution and imaging contrast, femtosecond lasers with ~100fs pulse width are employed as excitation light sources. Tagged fluorophores can be two-photon excited, thus achieving intrinsic sectioning images. Besides, second harmonic […]
Feature Publication
Plasma riboflavin fluorescence as a diagnostic marker of mesenteric ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats Thrombosis Research 223, 146-154 (2023) (Download)
Fluorescence intensity and lifetime imaging of lipofuscin-like autofluorescence for label-free predicting clinical drug response in cancer Redox Biology 59, 102578 (2023) (Download)
A universal strategy for the fabrication of single‑photon and multiphoton NIR nanoparticles by loading organic dyes into water‑soluble polymer nanosponges Journal of Nanobiotechnology 20, 311 (2022) (Download)
Imaging of macrophage mitochondria dynamics in vivo reveals cellular activation phenotype for diagnosis Theranostics 10, 2897-2917 (2020) (Download)
New Templated Ostwald Ripening Process of Mesostructured FeOOH for Third‐Harmonic Generation Bioimaging Small 15, 1805086 (2019). Back cover (Download)
Discovering Macrophage Functions Using In Vivo Optical Imaging Techniques Frontiers in Immunology 9, 502 (2018) (Download)
Imaging cytometry of human leukocytes with third harmonic generation microscopy Scientific Reports 6, 37210 (2016) (Download)
Imaging endogenous bilirubins with two-photon fluorescence of bilirubin dimers Analytical Chemistry 87, 7575-7582 (2015) (Download)
In vivo quantification of the structural changes of collagens in a melanoma microenvironment with second and third harmonic generation microscopy Scientific Reports 5, 8879 (2015) (Download)
THz acoustic phonon spectroscopy and nanoscopy by using piezoelectric semiconductor heterostructures Ultrasonics 56, 52-65 (2015) (Download)
Femtosecond laser bone ablation with a high repetition rate fiber laser source Biomedical Optics Express 6, 32-42 (2015) (Download)
One-step shell polymerization of inorganic nanoparticles and their applications in SERS/nonlinear optical imaging, drug delivery, and catalysis Scientific Reports 4, 5593 (2014) (Download)
In vivo metabolic imaging of insulin with multiphoton fluorescence of human insulin-Au nanodots Small 9, 2103-2110 (2013) (Download)
Surface states mediated NIR two-photon fluorescence of iron oxides for nonlinear optical microscopy Advanced Functional Materials 23, 2044-2051 (2013) (Download)
Imaging morphodynamics of human blood cells in vivo with video-rate third harmonic generation microscopy Biomedical Optics Express 3, 2860-2865 (2012) (Download)
Imaging granularity of leukocytes with third harmonic generation microscopy Biomedical Optics Express 3, 2234-2243 (2012) (Download)
Three-color femtosecond source for simultaneous excitation of three fluorescent proteins in two-photon fluorescence microscopy Biomedical Optics Express 3, 1972-1977 (2012) (Download)
Graphite-shelled Si nanoparticles and their Au/Si heterodimers: Preparation, photoluminescence, and second harmonic generation Journal of Physical Chemistry C 115, 9952-9960 (2011) (Download)
A sub-100fs self-starting Cr:forsterite laser generating 1.4W output power Optics Express 18, 24085- 24091 (2010) (Download)
Quantitative and qualitative investigation into the impact of focused ultrasound with microbubbles on the triggered release of nanoparticles from vasculature in mouse tumors Journal of Controlled Release 146, 291-298 (2010) (Download)
Efficient near-IR hyperthermia and intense nonlinear optical imaging contrast on the gold nanorod-in-shell nanostructures Journal of the American Chemical Society 131, 14186-14187 (2009) (Download)