We are a group of scientists and engineers from a range of disciplines motivated by the potential impact of our discoveries to yield significant improvements in the lives of human patients suffering from a range of afflictions from cancer to Alzheimer’s disease. We value scientific rigor, collaboration, open science and communication, respect, and support for each other. We believe our diverse backgrounds are a critical resource for developing and implementing meaningful changes in the world of biomedicine and beyond.
Principal Investigator
Professor Irene Georgakoudi
Professor Irene Georgakoudi was born and raised in Thessaloniki, Greece. She was fortunate to receive a full scholarship to attend Dartmouth College, where she studied Physics under the outstanding mentorship of the late Professor Michael Sturge. She was introduced to lasers and laser spectroscopy in his lab at the basement of Wilder Hall and she has been exploring interactions between laser light and biological tissues ever since. She is passionate about the development of optical non-invasive methods that rely on endogenous sources of contrast and their translation and use in the clinic to change paradigms of disease detection and treatment, especially cancer. She is thrilled to be back at her alma mater to teach and mentor young scientists and engineers while making a difference in patients’ lives. She loves spending time with family and friends, exploring new places and cultures, and spending time outdoors.
Lab Members
Research Scientist
Matthew M. Lindley
Matt Lindley is a scientist with a passion for developing new ways to use spectroscopy in the field of biophotonics. His research focuses on detecting the chemical content of cells and tissues in a non-destructive manner using endogenous contrast mechanisms such as Raman scattering, autofluorescence, and second harmonic generation. Before coming to Dartmouth in 2024, he completed his PhD in chemistry at the University of Tokyo, was a post-doctoral fellow at Osaka University’s Applied Physics Department, and worked as Lab Manager of Tufts University’s Advanced Microscopic Imaging Center.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Einstein Gnanatheepam
Einstein Gnanatheepam is a postdoctoral researcher in the Optical Diagnostics for Diseased and Engineered Tissue Lab, working under the mentorship of Professor Georgakoudi since 2020. He holds a Master’s degree in Physics and a Ph.D. in Biophotonics. He has contributed to various biophotonics projects, including the development of a polarization-enhanced laparoscope for peritoneal cancer detection, and the translation of a microendoscope based on fluorescence and second harmonic generation imaging for the detection of cervical and peritoneal cancers.
Research Interests: Multiphoton microscopy, Fiber optics, Tissue autofluorescence imaging, Extracellular matrix analysis, Cancer detection.
Maria G. Savvidou
Maria Savvidou is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Prof. Georgakoudi’s lab, having joined in December 2021. She earned her PhD in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece, in 2017, where she also completed her first postdoctoral fellowship in biotechnology. Maria holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from AUTH/UOWM and has two master’s degrees in System Management Engineering and Techno-Economical Analysis. Currently, she manages the Tufts Advanced Microscopic Imaging Center (TAMIC) at Tufts School of Engineering. Her research centers on label-free, high-resolution microscopic imaging to evaluate cellular metabolism using 3D engineered brain tissue models. She focuses on dynamic interactions in Alzheimer’s and TBI brain-like tissue models, aiming to identify biomarkers for neurodegenerative disease diagnosis and treatment. She also investigates label-free imaging for assessing stem cell metabolic states to enhance biomanufacturing tools for hPSC therapeutics.
Research Interests: Microscopic imaging techniques, Cellular metabolism and neurodegenerative diseases, Biomarker discovery for neurodegenerative conditions, Stem cell research and biomanufacturing, Interdisciplinary approaches in engineering and life sciences
Taras Hanulia
Taras Hanulia joined the Georgakoudi Lab in April 2023 as a postdoctoral scholar. He earned his Ph.D. in Engineering (Optical Engineering) from Shizuoka University, Japan, in 2018, where his research focused on Ultraviolet Surface Plasmon Resonance for Measurement of Fluorescent Lifetime. At the Georgakoudi Lab, Taras applies his expertise in optics and biomedical physics to explore cell interactions using advanced optical techniques. He has also contributed to research aimed at detecting rare circulating tumor cell clusters in blood through deep learning and label-free flow cytometry.
Current Project: Taras is currently developing a novel platform for label-free monitoring of CAR-T cell interactions in vivo. This project focuses on using cutting-edge optical methods to study CAR-T cell behavior and their interactions with tumor cells in real-time.
Research Interests: Flow cytometry, biomedical physics, cell culture and cellular assays, nonlinear optics, spectroscopy, and plasmonics.
Graduate Student
Yuhang Fu
Yuhang Fu is a PhD student in engineering at Dartmouth College. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Sichuan University and a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins, both of which are in biomedical engineering. His research focuses on developing analytical tools for multiphoton metabolism and lifetime imaging.
Nima Najafi Ghalehlou
Nima Ghalehlou is a PhD student of Engineering at Dartmouth College, conducting research under the supervision of Professor Irene Georgakoudi in the ODDET lab since 2023. His research revolves around the utilisation of multi-photon microscopy and second harmonic generation for cervical precancer detection as well as vitiligo treatment response assessment.
Undergraduate Students
Petros Taxiarchis
Petros Taxiarchis is an international undergraduate at Dartmouth College from Thessaloniki, Greece. He plans to major in Computer Science and specifically focus on its applications in the real world. He is highly interested in the development of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and academic research projects in the field. He is currently involved in the development of approaches to segment cells in low signal to background ratio autofluorescence images acquired from engineered models of Alzheimer’s disease.
Interests: Programming and software development and robotics. Quantitative social sciences and data analysis. Cognitive Science. Music analysis and composition.