Ulas Sunar, Ph.D.
SUNY Empire Innovation Associate Professor
Research Focus
The primary research area focuses on functional and molecular optical imaging techniques
for early disease detection and image-guided intervention in preclinical and clinical
settings. For disease characterization and evaluation of intervention efficacy, there
is a strong need for imaging modalities that can provide (bio)markers fast, frequently
and noninvasively. Furthermore, realistic tissue constructs involve multilayered thick
constructs consisting of vascular bed layer and cells such that there exists neovascularization
during tissue healing and proliferation and differentiation of cells in these dynamic
thick tissue mimicking constructs. Hence, there is a critical need to develop new
imaging techniques that can image well beyond the penetration limits of conventional
microscopy. We apply custom-developed imaging techniques in neuroimaging, cancer imaging,
and monitoring tissue regeneration research. Optical/Photoacoustic imaging modalities
can simultaneously quantify functional and
metabolic contrasts, such as tissue blood flow, oxygenation, and oxygen metabolism,
without the need for contrast agent administration, which is particularly attractive
for early diagnosis and intraoperative evaluation in real time. We apply these techniques
for neuro-monitoring, quantitative imaging of light-triggered nanovesicles, and 3D
mesoscopic imaging for engineered 3D tissue constructs and regenerative medicine,
drug delivery, and neural systems. Overall, portable, and fast multimodal technology
has allowed us to study tissue noninvasively in a variety of physiological contexts
in both preclinical and clinical settings.
EDUCATION
- 12/2006 Ph.D., Physics & Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
- 06/1998 M.S., Physics, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkiye
- 06/1995 B.S., Physics, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkiye
RESEARCH AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2022- SUNY Empire Innovation Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University-SUNY
2015-2022 Associate Professor & Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Wright State University, Dayton, OH.
2014-2015 Research Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering, SUNY-University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY.
2008-2014 Assistant Professor, Cell Stress Biology, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (RPCCC), Buffalo, NY.
HONORS
2022- SUNY Empire Innovation Associate Professor, Stony Brook University-SUNY.
2015-2022 The Ohio Research Scholar, Endowed Chair in Medical Imaging, Wright State
University, Dayton, OH.
2015 Invited Editorial Hosting a Research Topic at Frontiers in Physics, Nature PublishingGroup.
2014 Finalist for SPIE translational research award (selected over 200 as a candidate), SPIE Photonics West, San Francisco, CA.
2013 Author of Flash Highlight Poster at International Symposium on Metabolic Imaging and Spectroscopy, Philadelphia, PA.
2012 Founding Fellow of PanAmerican Photo Dynamic Therapy (PDT) Association.
2012 Poster award at 36th Meeting of the American Society for Photobiology, Montreal,
Canada.
2012 Selected for participation in the Early Career Reviewer Program at the Center for Scientific Review Program, National Institute of Health (NIH).
2007 Outstanding Abstract Award, Joint Molecular Imaging Conference, September 8-11, Rhode Island.
2005 Invited Speaker at European Conferences on Biomedical Optics, Munich, Germany.
PUBLICATIONS
Publications via Google Scholar
Lab Web PAGE
FUNDING AGENCIES
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- NIH/NIBIB
- NIH/NCI
- NIH/NINDS
- VA MERIT
- DHA/STTR PHASE I & II
- NSF I-CORPS
- NAVAL MEDICAL RESEARCH UNIT
- AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR DERMATOLOGIC SURGERY (ASDS)
COURSES
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- BME 310: Introduction to Biomedical Optics and Ultrasound
- BME 311: Fundamentals of Macro to Molecular Bioimaging
- BME 533: Biomedical Imaging Quantification and Analysis
- BME670: Special Topics in BME (Topic Area: Biomedical Imaging Quantification and Analysis)
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Previous COURSES
- Optical Imaging, Biomedical Optics, Medical Imaging, Neurophotonics
