SPIE (Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers), an international professional society for photonics and optics technology, has named Teng Liu, a postdoctoral researcher advancing functional retinal imaging, as the recipient of its 2026 SPIE–Franz Hillenkamp Postdoctoral Fellowship in Problem-Driven Biomedical Optics and Analytics. The prestigious $75,000 award supports translational optics research with direct clinical potential, and will be presented during the plenary session at SPIE Photonics West on January 17, 2026.
Liu, working under the mentorship of Ramkumar Sabesan at the University of Washington School of Medicine, is developing a clinically deployable form of optoretinography (ORG) — a non-invasive functional add-on to OCT that may transform how ophthalmologists detect and monitor retinal disease. By capturing minute, stimulus-evoked optical changes in photoreceptors, ORG has the potential to bridge the persistent structure–function gap in retinal diagnostics.
The fellowship will accelerate Liu’s project, “Translating Optoretinography (ORG) into a Sensitive Clinical Biomarker for Retinal Disease,” which aims to move ORG from its current proof-of-concept stage into a clinical-ready practical tool that fits seamlessly into ophthalmic imaging workflows. His doctoral work has already laid the foundation for this transition: Liu engineered an extended field-of-view ORG system capable of imaging a wider spectrum of retinal patients, and led the first longitudinal ORG study in retinitis pigmentosa, where functional deficits were detectable earlier than with standard clinical imaging.
“Receiving the SPIE–Franz Hillenkamp Fellowship is a pivotal milestone for me, both scientifically and personally,” Liu said. “It empowers me to deepen and accelerate my ongoing efforts to translate optoretinography from a laboratory technique toward a clinically viable tool for monitoring retinal health in blinding eye diseases... I am very grateful for this support, which reinforces my belief that ORG has the potential to ultimately contribute to improving care for patients with retinal disease.”
Fellowship Committee co-chairs Rox Anderson and Gabriela Apiou said that Liu was selected from an “international and highly competitive group of excellent proposals,” and praised the strong technological and clinical relevance of his work. ORG’s alignment with Franz Hillenkamp’s pioneering legacy in biomedical optics, the committee added, further reinforced Liu's selection for the fellowship.
Established to honor Hillenkamp’s contributions to medical laser science, the fellowship is supported by leading international photomedicine laboratories - including the Beckman Laser Institute, Boston University, the Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Medical Laser Center Lübeck, and the Manstein Lab in the Cutaneous Biology Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital — and matched by SPIE contributions of up to $1.5 million.
With ORG inching closer to clinical reality, the retina community may soon gain a powerful new functional biomarker — one with the potential to reshape early diagnosis and therapeutic evaluation across a wide range of inherited and acquired retinal diseases.
Liu, working under the mentorship of Ramkumar Sabesan at the University of Washington School of Medicine, is developing a clinically deployable form of optoretinography (ORG) — a non-invasive functional add-on to OCT that may transform how ophthalmologists detect and monitor retinal disease. By capturing minute, stimulus-evoked optical changes in photoreceptors, ORG has the potential to bridge the persistent structure–function gap in retinal diagnostics.
The fellowship will accelerate Liu’s project, “Translating Optoretinography (ORG) into a Sensitive Clinical Biomarker for Retinal Disease,” which aims to move ORG from its current proof-of-concept stage into a clinical-ready practical tool that fits seamlessly into ophthalmic imaging workflows. His doctoral work has already laid the foundation for this transition: Liu engineered an extended field-of-view ORG system capable of imaging a wider spectrum of retinal patients, and led the first longitudinal ORG study in retinitis pigmentosa, where functional deficits were detectable earlier than with standard clinical imaging.
“Receiving the SPIE–Franz Hillenkamp Fellowship is a pivotal milestone for me, both scientifically and personally,” Liu said. “It empowers me to deepen and accelerate my ongoing efforts to translate optoretinography from a laboratory technique toward a clinically viable tool for monitoring retinal health in blinding eye diseases... I am very grateful for this support, which reinforces my belief that ORG has the potential to ultimately contribute to improving care for patients with retinal disease.”
Fellowship Committee co-chairs Rox Anderson and Gabriela Apiou said that Liu was selected from an “international and highly competitive group of excellent proposals,” and praised the strong technological and clinical relevance of his work. ORG’s alignment with Franz Hillenkamp’s pioneering legacy in biomedical optics, the committee added, further reinforced Liu's selection for the fellowship.
Established to honor Hillenkamp’s contributions to medical laser science, the fellowship is supported by leading international photomedicine laboratories - including the Beckman Laser Institute, Boston University, the Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Medical Laser Center Lübeck, and the Manstein Lab in the Cutaneous Biology Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital — and matched by SPIE contributions of up to $1.5 million.
With ORG inching closer to clinical reality, the retina community may soon gain a powerful new functional biomarker — one with the potential to reshape early diagnosis and therapeutic evaluation across a wide range of inherited and acquired retinal diseases.
