Doctor Frederique Vanholsbeeck

Contact details
Building 303, Room 613
Phone: +64 9 373 7599 ext 88881
Email: f.vanholsbeeck@auckland.ac.nz

I completed my Lic. Sc. Phys. at the Science Faculty of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in 1999 after two years study at the Institut superieur d'architecture intercommunal Victor Horta. In 2001, I was awarded the Scientific Prize of the Belgian Physical Society for the best Masters thesis in physics. The aim of my thesis was to model gas transport in the lungs. I was awarded my PhD in 2003 for research conducted in the Optics and Acoustics Department of the Applied Sciences Faculty. I was supported by the FRIA. During my PhD I investigated nonlinear optical phenomena in fibers for applications to wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) telecommunication systems and to Raman optical amplifiers. In 2004, I commenced a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Auckland. In 2005, I was appointed to the position of Lecturer in the Department of Physics. My current field of research is biophotonics.

• Biophotonics
• Nonlinear optics
• Fiber optics

My principal research area is now biophotonics, ie, using light to observe and to understand physiological processes. One of our principal projects is to set up an optical coherence tomography system (OCT). This is an interferometric technique that allows high resolution in vivo, non-invasive imaging of human tissues. Such a system uses the coherence properties of a light source to map biological tissues in 3 dimensions. If the light source is sufficiently incoherent, details as small as a few microns can be resolved, ie, a few cells, and it is possible to scan up to a few millimeters in the depth of the tissue under investigation without having to cut or even to touch it. We are currently developing two OCT setups using two different OCT techniques. One of them is called parallel OCT which means that the detector is a CCD camera and that the whole sectional image is acquired at once. We also work on an all-fiber OCT setup so as to ensure easiness of use and minimal alignment. In this case, the image is acquired pixel by pixel and a x-y scanning of the field of view is required. In parallel with our work on the OCT systems, we are also working on fluorescence imaging. In particular we are developing modular all fiber fluorescence spectroscopy systems to assess the effectiveness of cellular therapy in heart healing and overall to improve knowledge of heart physiology. We also intend to use these probes to monitor bacteria growth and activation in soil bioremediation experiments.

Publication list