Biography
He combines fundamental research in light-based interferometry with translation to clinical and commercial applications. His work on Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (SD-OCT) has revolutionized ophthalmology, enabling video-rate 3D retinal imaging with 100–1000× higher sensitivity and speed. He also advanced Doppler OCT for blood flow and Polarization Sensitive OCT (PS-OCT) for imaging fibrous structures like nerves, collagen, and muscle, providing micrometer-resolution contrast for conditions including glaucoma, asthma, and interstitial lung disease.
He implements these innovations in clinical systems across ophthalmology, pulmonology, and gastroenterology, achieving METC approval for human pilot studies. He is a founding member of the Amsterdam UMC/VUmc Imaging Center, a leading hub for medical imaging research. Since 2017, he has collaborated with ARCNL and ASML to improve wafer alignment metrology, contributing to publications and intellectual property for ASML.
Personal Website: Website Prof. Johannes F. de Boer – Just another WordPress site
Research description
Johannes de Boer | Biophotonics & Medical Imaging section | Department of Physics and Astronomy
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Endoscopic Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT): Structural imaging of tissue layers (10–30 µm resolution) and functional extensions including Polarization-Sensitive OCT (PS-OCT) and Doppler OCT for fibrous structures and blood flow. Developed endoscopic PS-OCT systems for pulmonology and gastroenterology; first clinical demonstration correlating airway smooth muscle content with histology in asthma patients.
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Optical Analog of PET/CT: Combining OCT with targeted fluorescence to achieve molecular specificity. Developing novel endoscopic catheters to detect fluorescently labeled monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), providing 10–100× better resolution than PET/CT. Achievements include the first ex vivo Immuno-OCT study and first in vivo demonstration of 1 mm diameter motorized catheters in pulmonology.
