Authors

Numbers in the index correspond to the last two digits of the six-digit citation identifier (CID) article numbering system used in Proceedings of SPIE. The first four digits reflect the volume number. Base 36 numbering is employed for the last two digits and indicates the order of articles within the volume. Numbers start with 00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 0A, 0B...0Z, followed by 10-1Z, 20-2Z, etc.

Conference Committee

Symposium Chairs

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Conference Chair

Conference Program Committee

Session Chairs

Biophotonics and Immune Responses: The 10-Year Journey

The United Nations has named 2015 as the International Year of Light. It is a fitting designation, since light has played such an important role in the advancement of science and technology, epitomized by the 2014 Nobel Prizes in Physics (“for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources”) and in Chemistry (“for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy”).

Many advances in both optics and photonics are directly utilized in biomedical applications, both in diagnostics and in therapeutics for various diseases. Continued growth in biophotonics-related research and applications, as demonstrated by increasing numbers of presentations in these fields at SPIE conferences, provides unequivocal evidence that we are truly riding a ‘light’ wave.

It has long been known that many diseases trace their roots to unbalanced immune systems, such as a controlled upregulated immune system for autoimmune disease and a severely downregulated immune system for HIV. However, for the past several decades, understanding and manipulating immune systems has been a slow, often confusing, process, due to the complex nature of the immune system and the lack of appropriate biological and physical techniques.

Recent advances in science and technology – in no small part in optoelectronics – have provided the tools required by scientists, engineers, physicians, and other professionals in immunological studies. In this past decade, we have acquired a wealth of valuable knowledge concerning the functions of our own immunological systems, and have since developed many significant immunology-based approaches to disease diagnosis and treatment.

Progress in the field of cancer has been particularly significant; so much so that in a December 2013 editorial, Marcia McNutt, Editor-in-Chief of the journal Science, declared, about cancer immunotherapy, “Constructed over decades, it has begun to demonstrate such promising results in cancer patients that we have selected it as the Breakthrough of the Year for 2013.” Likewise, the journal Nature Review Cancer devoted almost an entire issue in April 2012 to cancer immunotherapy.

Granted, there remains a long way to go before we truly understand the inner workings of the immune system and, eventually, properly regulate the system. However, current advances in immunology give us more than enough to be encouraged and to double our efforts to fight against all illnesses and reduce suffering, using the most powerful tool at our disposal: the immune system.

In light of these immense, exciting achievements in biophotonics and immunology and in the International Year of the Light, we welcome and celebrate the tenth anniversary of our conference, Biophotonics and Immune Responses (BPIR).

BPIR in Photonics West was not a coincidence. This was due to the efforts of many dedicated researchers and supporters. In 1998, just as researchers began to pay close attention to immunological responses, induced by photophysical and photobiological laser-tissue interactions, a small group of scientists ventured further. With the support and encouragement of Steven Jacques, the Chair of the Conference Laser-Tissue Interaction, two unique sessions were presented in Laser-Tissue Interaction IX: “Immunological Mechanism during PDT I” and “Immunological Mechanism during PDT II and Photochemical Mechanisms.”

The first five biophotonics-immunological talks presented are given below:

The presenters in the first sessions included Gianfranco Canti, a pioneer in PDT-induced immune responses in cancer research from Italy, and Mladen Korbelik and Sandra Gollnick, two leading immunologists active in PDT from Canada and the United States, respectively. Also included were Wei R. Chen and Robert Nordquist, two researchers from Oklahoma, who had been working on a new approach combining photothermal and immunological interactions for the treatment of metastatic cancers.

These special sessions on biophotonics and immune responses continued to flourish under the umbra of the Laser-Tissue Interaction conference for several years. They continued to attract the interest of individuals in different areas related to immune activities, such as disease detection, therapeutic approaches, and immunological mechanisms at the molecular and cellular levels. The decision was made, therefore, to start a new conference. During a meeting of the regular participants in January 2015, several names were proposed for the new conference. Following a brief discussion, Biophotonics and Immune Responses, proposed by Michael Hamblin, was selected.

On behalf of this group, Wei R. Chen proposed the new conference to the SPIE executive committee. As stated in the proposal, the purpose of the conference is as follows.

The new conference proposal easily sailed through all approving committees. The Biophotonics and Immune Responses conference became reality in 2006, as one of the Photonics West conferences in San Jose, California.

The original topics covered in the 2006 conference included:

The very first conference attracted renowned researchers around the world. They presented exciting talks in the following sessions:

Throughout the years, BPIR was attended by increasing numbers of individuals from different disciplines, either as presenters or as audience members. The attendence was relatively stable in the first five years and experienced noticeable growth in the past five years. The following chart shows the numbers of papers presented per year over the past 10 years.

Figure 1.

The number of presentations (oral and posters) at Biophotonics and Immune Responses from 2006 to 2015.

Participants included not only scientists and clinicians, but also patients who benefited from our research. Additionally, among the participants of our early meetings were inventors and entrepreneurs. Almost from the very beginning of BPIR, research collaborations began among researchers from different fields, and alliances were formed between the researchers and the entrepreneurs.

In January 2007, two groups of people with vastly differing backgrounds met at the second BPIR. Robert Nordquist and Wei R. Chen had been working since the early 1990s on a novel cancer treatment therapy – laser immunotherapy, and Tomas Hode and Peter Jenkins had been working on the development and manufacture of medical lasers. Their mutual interests attracted them to the conference. The interactions between the two groups were a perfect match, since they clearly saw the complementary nature of each other’s professional and business endeavors. In the following year, Immunophotonics, Inc. was formed. Together, they began an intensive, joint effort to develop a new approach to treat late-stage, metastatic cancer patients who face severely limited therapeutic options. Today, the new approach, named in situ therapeutic cancer vaccine (inCVAX), is in the early stages of a rigorous development and approval process in the United States. This approach has already obtained encouraging outcomes in preclinical studies and preliminary clinical trials in Latin America.

Looking back, BPIR has indeed served extremely well in its intended role as a “bridge between technology development and clinical applications”. It continues to maintain its diversity by incorporating new topics and attracting more participants. The latest several conferences include the following sessions:

Again, with great excitement and anticipation, we organized and conducted our tenth meeting. In celebration of our tenth anniversary, we included several invited talks covering the conference background, one of which was presented by Steven Jacques, a pioneer in biomedical optics research. He is well known as the founder of the famous conference Laser-Tissue Interaction 26 years ago, which has served, and continues to serve, as an incubator for many new ideas and new conferences, including BPIR. It was quite fitting that Steven Jacques provided an overview of the light application in diagnosis and therapeutic/surgical techniques. As promised, his presentation enlightened the audience and was an excellent way to start off the conference.

Biophotonics and Immune Responses was motivated, in a large sense, by the immunological studies in PDT. It was therefore appropriate that Tayyaba Hasan, one of the leading researchers in PDT, gave an overview of the field: its past, present, and future. Her talk was well received by all participants.

The presentation by Michael Hamblin, a leading expert on laser induced immune responses, provided an overview and an outlook of preclinical studies in the field. Mark Naylor, a dermatological oncologist and an early enthusiast of photoimmunotherapy, summarized the current clinical status using photoimmunotherapy in the treatment of several different metastatic cancers. In Tomas Hode’s presentation, as shown to attendees, was a joint journey to develop a cancer vaccine. This journey started at one of the earlier BPIR conferences, with both promises and challenges in developing a new cancer therapy from a naïve bench-top concept to a viable bedside clinical tool.

Many well-known researchers from around the globe presented excellent talks on a variety of topics. These included Sandra Gollnick, Zheng Huang, Mladen Korbelik, Richard Levenson, Xunbin Wei, Mei Xu, and Zhihong Zhang.

Of course, the success of our conference would not be possible without the continued efforts of the members of the Program Committee. They organized sessions, presented talks, and contributed to the proceedings. The following committee members for our 2015 meeting deserve a special appreciation:

Overall, due to the efforts of all program committee members, the speakers, and the participants, we had another successful meeting. We look forward to many more in the future!

Wei R. Chen