Joseph R. Lakowicz

CAST FACULTY

Adjunct Professor, CAST

Joseph R. Lakowicz, Ph.D. is a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the founding Director of the Center for Fluorescence Spectroscopy (established in 1988). His career has focused on foundational and applied advances in fluorescence spectroscopy and imaging, spanning probe development, time-resolved fluorescence, and optical biosensing. He is the author of Principles of Fluorescence Spectroscopy, which is widely recognized as the standard reference text in the field.

KNOWN FOR

Principles of Fluorescence Spectroscopy Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging
Plasmon‑Enhanced Fluorescence

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Signature Work ↓ Publications ↓

IN HIS WORDS

“The human genome would not have been sequenced without fluorescence.”

Joseph R. Lakowicz, in Laser Focus World

SIGNATURE WORK

Global Impact

THIRD EDITION

Principles of Fluorescence Spectroscopy

Joseph R. Lakowicz

01 THE STANDARD TEXT

Principles of Fluorescence Spectroscopy

The standard reference on fluorescence, from basic theory to lifetimes, quenching and anisotropy. He also founded an intensive course on time-resolved fluorescence for Ph.D.-level scientists, taught in the U.S. and Germany, with the lectures posted on YouTube.

3 editions 1983, 1999 and 2006

02 IMAGING

Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging

An imaging method that builds a picture from how long each spot glows, not just how bright it is. The lifetime depends on the probe’s surroundings but not on how much probe is present, so the image reports on local chemistry.

Coined the term fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy

FLUORESCENCE LIFETIME IMAGING

FLIM

CONTACT LENS SENSING

Tears

03 TEAR-FLUID DIAGNOSTICS

Contact Lens Sensors

Contact lenses with fluorescent probes that measure biomarkers in tear fluid, read with light from outside the eye. Recent designs target dehydration and MMP-9, a marker of eye inflammation.

No electronics inside the lens

FOUNDING EDITOR OF

Journal of Fluorescence Journal of Biomedical Optics Plasmonics Topics in Fluorescence Spectroscopy Annual Reviews in Fluorescence