Light for health

On 30 and 31 May, the second meeting of Light for Health (L4H) will take place in Castelldefels (Barcelona), organized by the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) with collaboration from the CELEX Foundation and the International Center for Scientific Debate (ICSD), a Biocat initiative driven by the "la Caixa" Welfare Projects.

ICFO is a research center of excellence devoted to studying photonic science and technology, an emerging discipline with a number of applications in the automotive industry, the photovoltaic sector, biology and medicine, among others. The center was inaugurated in 2002 in the Mediterranean Technology Park in Castelldefels. The center currently has researchers from 35 different countries and innovative facilities including a nanomanufacturing laboratory and the only super-resolution and nanoscopic microscope in Spain. 

Light for Health will bring together different scientific stakeholders: experts in photonics, biomedical research centers, hospitals, universities and companies.

National and international speakers will cover the latest breakthroughs and challenges in the fields of oncology, neurology and high-resolution imaging, as well as the future of various photonic technologies. Noteworthy speakers will include:

• David Boas, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School (USA)
• Oriol Casanovas, Catalan Institute of Oncology–IDIBELL (Spain)
• Joan Seoane, Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology Research (Spain)
• Romain Quidant, ICFO (Spain)
• Melike Lakadamyali, ICFO (Spain)
• John Detre, University of  Pennsylvania (USA)
• Clare Elizabeth elwell, University College London (United Kingdom)
• Thomas MIsgeld, Munich Technical University (Germany)
• Vincenzo DePaola, Imperial College London (United Kingdom)
• Jean-Baptiste Sibarita, CNRS (France)
• Peter Drent, Nikon Instruments Europe BV (Netherlands)
• Jochen Feldmann, University of  Munich (Germany)
• Regine Choe, University of  Rochester (USA)
• Bettina Weigelin Radboud, University Nijmegen Medical Center (Netherlands)
• Adela Ben-Yakar, University of  Texas (USA)

Conferences on the first day of the event will focus on the use of light in neurology and neurosciences. The second day will deal with the use of light in oncology.

This event will coincide with the European launch of the N-Storm super-resolution microscopy system created by Nikon Instruments Europe BV and the official presentation of the Nikon Center of Excellence in Storm located at ICFO. This will be Nikon’s European center of excellence for high-resolution technical imaging and will play a fundamental role in European and global training in Storm Imaging. The group of ICFO researchers that will carry out their work using this new system includes professor Melike Lakadamyali, a global expert in this microscopy technique.