Affiliated Centers

The GSK Center for Optical and Molecular Imaging (COMI) represents a unique industry-academic partnership between the global pharmaceutical company GSK, the Beckman Institute's Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory, and Carle Health. Novel optical imaging technologies are being developed for cell-to-clinic applications in drug discovery, development, distribution, and efficacy. 

The Center for Label-free Imaging and Multiscale Biophotonics (CLIMB) is an NIH National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering Biomedical Technology Research Resource (P41 Center). CLIMB is located at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the interdisciplinary Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. Through the three Technology Research and Development Projects (TRDs), the current eight Collaborative Projects, and the eight Service Projects, the CLIMB center is a national and international network of researchers investigating cutting-edge optical imaging and sensing methods, along with developing novel computational imaging and AI/ML algorithms, to enable label-free optical imaging technologies for both clinical applications as well as basic biological discovery.

Prof. Rohit Bhargava, Lead for TRD1, is developing quantitative phase imaging approaches to visualize cells and tissues in unique ways.  Prof. Stephen Boppart, as Lead for TRD2, is developing quantitative label-free imaging technologies for clinical and in-vivo imaging. Prof. Mark Anastasio, Lead for TRD3, is developing computational imaging approaches with intelligent specificity. These TRD projects, along with a wide range of applications and investigators in the Collaborative and Service Projects, are coupled with educational programming in optics and biophotonics, along with entrepreneurial and commercialization training, to ensure rapid translation of label-free technology into first-in-human clinical studies and eventually toward commercialization, dissemination, clinical trials, adoption, and impact.

The Cancer Center at Illinois (CCIL) unites world-class faculty at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who uncover fundamental knowledge, innovate new technologies, and enable cancer-free lives. 

The Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute (IHSI) ignites and accelerates health research and innovation at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.