Peter So
Professor, Mechanical Engineering (MechE) and Biological Engineering (BE)

2020 SENSE.nano Symposium
Monday, September 21, 2020
Session 1: Cell and subcell
2:05PM – 2:20PM EST

Abstract
Quantitative interferometric microscopy is a power non-invasive technique to extract quantitative cellular biomechanical and morphological information. On one hand, So will describe several generations of quantitative interferometric microscopic systems with improved spectral contrast, depth resolution, and enhanced sensitivity. In conjunction with these advances in optical imaging techniques, important biomedical applications have become possible including the identification of biophysical markers of sickle red blood cells and the study of cancer cell nuclear mechanics in relationship to their metastasis potential.

Biography
Peter So is a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to joining MIT, Professor So obtained his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1992 and subsequently worked as a postdoctoral associate in the Laboratory for Fluorescence Dynamics at the University of Illinois in Urban-Champaign. His research focuses on developing high resolution and high information content microscopic imaging instruments. These instruments are applied in biomedical studies such as the non-invasive optical biopsy of cancer, the mechanotransduction processes in cardiovascular diseases, and the effects of neuronal remodeling on memory plasticity. Peter So is currently the Director of the MIT Laser Biomedical Research Center, an NIH NIBIB P41 research resource.