Laura Marcu, Ph.D.
School of Medicine
Medical Imaging
NIH-Funded Research Advancing Life-saving Medical Imaging
At UC Davis, Professor Laura Marcu leads federally funded research in biophotonics, where light is used to better diagnose and treat disease. A key focus of her work is Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging, or FLIM, a technology that detects subtle molecular changes in tissue without dyes and in real time. FLIM helps surgeons clearly see the difference between healthy and cancerous tissue during operations and helps cardiologists spot dangerous artery plaques before they cause heart attacks.
Helping Humanity
This research directly improves patient care by helping doctors make faster, safer, and more precise decisions in the operating room. Continued federal funding keeps lifesaving biophotonic technologies such as FLIM moving from the lab to the clinic, trains the next generation of medical innovators, and ensures patients benefit from advances that can extend and improve lives.
“Losing federal funding wouldn’t just slow down research. It will disrupt the entire pipeline from discovery to clinical impact.” – Laura Marcu, Ph.D.