Join the SAOT Summer Academy 2026! 🌞
- Where? Dresden, Penck Hotel
- When? July 6th – 9th, 2026
(6th July leaving early till 9th July arriving evening)
Choose one of the following courses:
- Course A: Translational Optics with Fluorescence Lifetime and Raman Imaging: From Bench to Bedside
Course leader: Alba Alfonso GarcÃa (Young Researcher Award Winner 2025) - Course B: Application of Dynamic Light Scattering in Biomedical Systems
Course leader: Andreas Fröba
See below for detailed course descriptions.
Registration
Please kindly confirm your registration until 29th May 2026 below.
This is a binding reservation, accommodation will be booked for you. You are liable to cover the costs if you do not attend.
Course Details
- Course A: Translational Optics with Fluorescence Lifetime and Raman Imaging: From Bench to Bedside
Course leader: Alba Alfonso GarcÃa (Young Researcher Award Winner 2025)
Advanced light-based applications laboratory, University of California, Davis, USATranslational optics focuses on adapting optical technologies for practical use in biomedical and clinical settings. This course introduces the translational pathway of two imaging modalities: fluorescence lifetime and Raman spectroscopy. We will highlight how their underlying contrast mechanisms can be used to probe tissue biochemistry and metabolism. The course begins with essential concepts in tissue optics, including light–tissue interactions such as absorption, scattering, and fluorescence, and connects these principles to the basic operation of fluorescence lifetime and Raman systems. It then explores how these techniques are implemented beyond the laboratory, with examples of their integration into clinical workflows. Emphasis is placed on practical considerations for translation, including instrumentation constraints, data interpretation, and real-time applicability. Through selected case studies, participants will gain an overview of how optical imaging technologies move from foundational concepts to applied tools in biomedical diagnostics.
- Course B: Application of Dynamic Light Scattering in Biomedical Systems
Course leader: Andreas Fröba
Institute of Advanced Optical Technologies – Thermophysical Properties (AOT-TP), FAUDynamic light scattering (DLS) represents a non-invasive technique for studying the size and shape of particles and macromolecules in solution. It has long been an indispensable tool to the polymer physical chemist, and is seeing increased use in exploring properties of biological macromolecules, alone and in association with solvent. Nowadays, beside aerosols and colloidal dispersions, the application of DLS can be found for solutions and dispersions of biological macromolecules and systems including viruses, protein-complexes, and membrane vesicles. At first, the course gives an introduction into the methodological principles of DLS and its experimental realization. After this, different applications of DLS in biomedical systems are discussed and reviewed. These range from quality control of blood platelet transfusions to the early detection of cataracts.