Welcome to the COOL lab at Oregon Health & Science University. We are dedicated to the advancement of biomedical imaging techniques in order to improve the diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases.
The COOL Lab staff has found some fun ways to stay connected during COVID-19 modified operations!






























































GET TO KNOW OUR NEW FACULTY, STAFF & VISITING SCHOLARS

Dr. Alfonso Jiménez-Villar is a Postdoctoral Scholar at Casey Eye Institute. He completed his MSc in Optical Technologies and Imaging from Complutense University of Madrid (Spain) in 2015. After having worked in the design and manufacturing of ophthalmic lenses, he earned his PhD in physics from the Nicolaus Copernicus University (Torun, Poland) in 2022. His main research interests include the development of alternative clinical devices for ophthalmic applications, intelligent adaptive optics and functional applications of Optical Coherence Tomography (optorretinography and elastography).

Naixing(Nelson) Huang is a graduate student of the Biomedical Engineering Department at OHSU. He earned his bachelor's degree in Automation from Guangdong University of Technology(2022). His research interests are functional imaging and laser system development.

Yiming Huang, MD
Yiming Huang is a visiting scholar since 2023. He is a vitreoretinal specialist in Taipei Veteran General Hospital in Taiwan. His research interests are CNV conversion and Ultrawide filed OCT of DR.

Dr. Jiachi Hong earned his bachelor's degree in Information and Computing Science from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, in 2017. He then received his phD in Optical Engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2022. His research interests include high resolution optical coherence tomography (OCT), OCT angiography (OCTA), functional extantion of OCT (elastography, blood flow imaging), medical image processing and analysis for OCT/OCTA, and laser speckle imaging.

John Jackson is a Visiting Scholar at the Casey Eye Institute. He is an M.D. candidate at the University of Toledo College of Medicine. He holds two B.A. degrees, one in film from Harvard and the second in Computer Information Science with a minor in Biomedical Engineering from the Ohio State University. His research interests include the application of Machine Learning, Image processing and Geometric Algebra to improve patient care and clinical training.
COOL LAB'S LATEST NEWS


The Career Innovation Excellence Award is presented to an OHSU employee who, over the course of their career, has shown themselves to be an accomplished inventor and entrepreneur, demonstrated a true passion for innovation, been successful in engaging and cultivating partnerships with industry, and worked tirelessly to translate their discoveries into solutions for realworld problems and the benefit of society.
Yali Jia, Ph.D., is a pioneer of optical coherence tomographic angiography, and has been included as a contributor on over 30 new technology disclosures submitted to OHSU Technology Transfer. These new methods for detecting structural and vascular abnormalities in the eye have led to 15 issued patents, several of which have been licensed to leading optical coherence tomography manufacturers for further development. Jia’s achievements and success in innovation have been widely recognized both within and outside the OHSU community. In 2021, Jia was the recipient of an OCTRI Biomedical Innovation Program grant, and in 2018 she was named New Inventor of the Year by OHSU Technology Transfer. Jia has also been inducted as a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors.
*Yan Li, PhD, was awarded as a Principal Investigator of non-clinical industry sponsored research.
*Ou Tan, PhD, was inducted into the OHSU Chapter of the National Academy of Inventors.
*Yukun Guo, Yan Li, Yali Jia, and David Huang were awarded as Inventors of issued US Patents.








OHSU physician-scientist elected to National Academy of Engineering
David Huang, M.D., Ph.D., recognized for co-creating widely used medical imaging technology
An ophthalmologist and research engineer at Oregon Health & Science University has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering in recognition for co-inventing a medical imaging technology that is commonly used to diagnose and guide treatment for the leading causes of blindness.
David Huang, M.D., Ph.D., is among 124 new members who have been elected to the academy, which is among the highest professional distinctions for engineers. He is believed to be the first OHSU representative to become an elected National Academy of Engineering member.
Huang co-invented optical coherence tomography, or OCT, which is used in about 30 million imaging procedures annually. The technology is used to diagnose macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma, and also helps physicians decide how to best treat patients with blindness-causing disease. It is also increasingly used to evaluate treatments for neurological diseases, such as multiple sclerosis.
Huang has been widely recognized for co-inventing OCT in 1991, when he was an M.D./Ph.D. student at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The National Academy of Engineering previously recognized Huang in 2017, when it awarded him the Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize. His other honors include an António Champalimaud Vision Award, the largest scientific and humanitarian prize in vision research, and a Visionary Prize from the Sanford and Susan Greenberg Prize to End Blindness.
As an ophthalmologist, Huang specializes in cornea and refractive surgery. He is a professor of ophthalmology and biomedical engineering in the OHSU School of Medicine, and is the inaugural holder of the Wold Family Endowed Chair in Ophthalmic Imaging. Huang serves as the associate director and the director of research of the OHSU Casey Eye Institute. He also leads the OHSU Center for Ophthalmic Optics and Lasers, which focuses on diagnostic imaging and therapeutic laser applications. Huang joined OHSU in 2010.
He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from MIT, and a combined M.D./Ph.D. degree from the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology. He completed ophthalmology residency training at the University of Southern California’s Doheny Eye Institute and cornea fellowship training at Emory University.

David Huang, M.D., Ph.D., is among 124 new members who have been elected to the academy, which is among the highest professional distinctions for engineers. He is believed to be the first OHSU representative to become an elected National Academy of Engineering member. (Courtesy of Scott Areman)

ARVO 2022 Annual Meeting

Yifan Jian Receives BrightFocus Foundation Macular Degeneration Research Award
Yifan Jian will receive a BrightFocus foundation award for his proposal, entitled "Mapping of Photoreceptor Nuclear Layer Using Volumetric Directional OCT: Applications in Age-Related Macular Degeneration" this July. His proposal was accepted by Vision Science's Review Committee after the completion of a very competitive review process.

Congratulations Dr. David Huang for receiving the Greenberg Prize Award!
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- End Blindness 2020—an unprecedented joint effort by leading scientists and figures from the worlds of business, politics, culture, art, music and entertainment to rid the world of blindness—is about to mark a major milestone. On December 14, 2020, 13 pioneering scientists will share $3 million in prizes, from The Sanford and Sue Greenberg Prize to End Blindness, for their groundbreaking scientific and medical contributions to permanently and universally eradicate a condition that has plagued humans since the beginning of time. The hour-long streamed ceremony will be freely accessible and open to all at www.EndBlindness2020.com.
The Greenberg Prize awards ceremony will feature Art Garfunkel, Margaret Atwood, Al Gore, Michael Bloomberg, and Sen. Chris Coons among other luminaries. Musical performances will be provided by special guests. Grammy Award-winning jazz artist Diane Schuur, who was blind from birth due to Retinopathy of Prematurity, will share a few special words. Art-world legend Frank Stella will unveil a sculpture created in honor of the prize.
The Greenberg Prize ceremony will also feature a moving tribute to the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a longtime supporter of the End Blindness movement. The tribute will include exclusive footage of Justice Ginsburg reading from Hello Darkness, My Old Friend, the memoir of End Blindness 2020 co-founder Sanford D. Greenberg.
"While today's prize marks the culmination of years of challenging scientific work, in reality this prize is only the beginning of a journey of innovation and cooperation," Dr. Greenberg says. "Together, we are forging a new reality, one in which blindness will no longer determine the future of millions of people. We will end blindness, sooner than any of us can imagine, permanently and for everyone."
Recipients of The Greenberg Prize include members of the scientific and medical communities who have pioneered breathtaking advances in the fight to end the debilitating condition. Prize recipients are being honored in two categories: the Outstanding Achievement Prize, highlighting profound strides toward treating and curing blindness, and The Visionary Prize, providing funding for scientists whose research exhibits significant potential in ending this ancient scourge.
Outstanding Achievement Recipients:
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Dr. Ravindran Ravilla, Aravind Eye Care System
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Dr. G. N. Rao, The L.V. Prasad Eye Institute
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Dr. Jean Bennett, Center for Advanced Retinal and Ocular Therapeutics, Department of Ophthalmology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
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Dr. Gustavo Aguirre, Division of Experimental Retinal Therapies, Department of Clinical Sciences & Advanced Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
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Dr. William Hauswirth, Department of Ophthalmology of the University of Florida
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Dr. Albert Maguire, Center for Advanced Retinal and Ocular Therapeutics, Department of Ophthalmology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Visionary Recipients:
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Dr. James Fujimoto, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Dr. David Huang, Casey Eye Institute and Department of Ophthalmology, Oregon Health and Science University
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Mr. Eric Swanson, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Dr. Zhigang He, Boston Children's Hospital F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center
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Dr. Simon John, The Jackson Laboratory, Department of Ophthalmology, Columbia University
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Dr. Botond Roska, Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel
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Dr. Masayo Takahashi, RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research; Vision Care, Inc. as part of Kobe Eye Center
"This is not just a prize but the 21st century equivalent of a moonshot, the effects of which will resound through history," according to Dr. Peter McDonnell, director of the Wilmer Eye Institute at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a member of the End Blindness National Governing Council. "Since time immemorial, blindness has been understood as an immutable fixture of the human condition. The great shift End Blindness has brought about demonstrates this is no longer the case. Together, we will end blindness—and sooner than anyone had ever imagined."
SOURCE The Greenberg Prize
ABOUT US

Mission
The mission of the Center for Ophthalmic Optics and Lasers (COOL) is to conserve, improve and restore vision through advances in laser and optical technology.
Description
The Center for Ophthalmic Optics and Lasers (COOL) at the Casey Eye Institute, Oregon Health & Science University is an interdisciplinary research center that focuses on improving the diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases through advances in laser and optical technology. David Huang, MD, PhD, director of the COOL Lab, is a co-inventor of optical coherence tomography (OCT), which has become the most frequently used ophthalmic imaging procedure since 2003. The COOL Lab has pioneered many advances in ophthalmic OCT. In the anterior eye, COOL Lab researchers developed methods to map and measure the cornea, anterior chamber, angle, and lens and continues to lead the field in this area. This technology is now widely used to diagnose early keratoconus, narrow-angle glaucoma, ocular surface tumors, plan phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK), and calculate intraocular lens power in patients with previous LASIK or other keratorefractive surgery. In the posterior segment, COOL Lab led the multi-center Advanced Imaging for Glaucoma bioengineering partnership,
which was responsible for developing ganglion cell complex mapping for glaucoma evaluation, Doppler OCT to measure total retinal blood flow, and the first clinical investigation using OCT angiography. COOL Lab researchers developed a very efficient OCT angiography algorithm called “split-spectrum amplitude decorrelation angiography” (SSADA), which made the first commercial clinical OCT angiography system possible. COOL Lab researchers are actively improving OCT angiography and applying it to the evaluation and management of age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, inherited retinal degenerations, and ocular tumors. On the treatment side, the COOL lab is investigating the optimal technique for combining corneal collagen crosslinking and PTK for the treatment of keratoconus and is developing a laser thermal conjunctivoplasty device provides a safe, gentle, and fast healing procedure to treat conjunctivochalasis in an ophthalmologist’s office. The interdisciplinary team is able to perform interdisciplinary research from developing hardware (ultrahigh-speed OCT, laser surgical instrumentation), advancing signal and image processing algorithms, optimizing novel laser surgical techniques, conducting pilot clinical studies, to organizing large multi-site clinical studies. The COOL Lab also supports the Casey Reading Center with advanced OCT and OCT angiography reading software that can be used in a wide variety of clinical studies in retinal and optic nerve diseases.

Presenting at ARVO 2019

RL Stevens Photography 2/21/2017

Yali Jia, PhD receiving award at ARVO 2019

Presenting at ARVO 2019