Lyra Fontaine
April 21, 2025
Liu received national recognition for inventing and commercializing open-top light-sheet microscopy.
Jonathan Liu
ME Professor Jonathan Liu was inducted into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows.
Election to the AIMBE College of Fellows is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to medical and biological engineers, comprising the top 2% of engineers in these fields. Liu was nominated, reviewed and elected by peers and College of Fellows members for inventing and commercializing open-top light-sheet microscopy and integrating it with AI for high-throughput non-destructive 3D pathology.
Open-top light-sheet microscopy — developed in Liu’s lab the Molecular Biophotonics Laboratory — is a method that allows tissue to be microscopically viewed in 3D without cutting or destroying it. When combined with computational-analysis strategies that use AI to triage large datasets, the technology could help guide treatment decisions.
“It is an honor to join the College of Fellows of AIMBE, and especially to join them in advocating for science and engineering support from our state and federal legislatures, which is more important now than ever”
Liu is currently leading a multi-university project, funded by an up to $21.1 million award from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), to help surgeons to remove cancer tumors more completely and rapidly during a single procedure. Liu is also a co-founder and board member of Alpenglow Biosciences Inc., which has commercialized the non-destructive 3D pathology technologies developed in his lab.
AIMBE College membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering and medicine research, practice, or education” and to “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of medical and biological engineering or developing/implementing innovative approaches to bioengineering education.”