Faculty of Engineering
Research project description
Our work explores how photons interact with living matter, and how those interactions can be transformed into meaningful biomedical insight. We are interested in seeing what is usually hidden: subtle changes in tissue, chemistry, and structure that precede disease, progression, or healing. The goal is not just sharper images, but deeper understanding.
Research in the group moves fluidly between physics, biology, and computation. Students learn to think like experimentalists and theorists at the same time: designing ways to probe complex systems, extracting signal from noise, and translating physical measurements into information that matters in medicine.
This is a place for students who enjoy building ideas from first principles, who are comfortable with ambiguity, and who want their work to sit at the boundary between fundamental science and real-world impact. We value curiosity, rigour, and creativity in equal measure.
Fields of research
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Biophotonics and light–matter interactions in biological systems
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Biomedical optics and microscopy
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Optical imaging for medicine and diagnostics
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Quantitative and computational imaging
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Physics-based modelling of biological signals
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Machine learning for biomedical image formation and interpretation
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Label-free and minimally invasive imaging
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Translational imaging for cancer and ocular disease
This research project is eligible for funding through the Canada Impact+ Research Training Awards (CIRTA) program.
Qualifications and ideal student profile
Prospective graduate student researchers must meet or exceed the minimum admission requirements for the programs connected to this opportunity. Visit the program pages using the links on this page to learn more about minimum admission requirements. In addition to minimum requirements, the research supervisor is looking for the following qualifications and student profile.
- Beyond meeting the formal admissions requirements, we are looking for students who are curious, self-motivated, and excited by hard problems. Ideal candidates enjoy working at the intersection of physics, engineering, and biology, and are comfortable moving between theory, experiment, and computation.
- Strong preparation in areas such as optics, photonics, electrical or biomedical engineering, physics, applied mathematics, or related fields is valuable, but intellectual flexibility matters more than checking every box. Successful students in the group are willing to build from first principles, learn unfamiliar tools, and take ownership of complex research questions that do not come with predefined answers.
- We value students who are rigorous with data, thoughtful about uncertainty, and patient with experimentation. Research in the lab often involves designing systems, debugging experiments, analyzing noisy measurements, and iterating many times before clarity emerges. Persistence, attention to detail, and a genuine interest in understanding why something works are essential.
Faculty researcher and supervisor
- Parsin Haji Reza
Associate Professor, Systems Design Engineering
View faculty profile →
PhotoMedicine Labs →
Graduate programs connected to this project
Important dates
PhotoMedicine, Biphotonics and Biomedical Optics is accepting expressions of interest for the winter, spring and fall 2027, winter, spring and fall 2028, and winter, spring and fall 2029 terms.