Degrees

Ph.D. 2000, Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, California, USA
M.Sc. 1995, Aerospace Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
B.Sc. (Cum Laude) 1992, Aerospace Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Research/Teaching Interests

Dr. Ben-Yakar specializes on advanced applications of femtosecond lasers in life sciences, nonlinear microscopy, plasmonic nanoengineering, and nanotechnology. She investigates the fundamentals of femtosecond laser interaction with biological tissues and nanomaterials to develop novel techniques such as laser nanosurgery and 3-D micro-/nano-fabrication techniques.

Dr. Ben-Yakar is a faculty member of the Thermal/Fluid Systems program of the Mechanical Engineering Department. She has served on the College of Engineering faculty since 2004. She is a regular member of the Graduate Studies Committee of the Biomedical Engineering Department. She is also a fellow of the Institute for Neuroscience and Center for Nano and Molecular Science and Technology at the Texas Materials Institute and Microelectronics Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Ben-Yakar received two research grants from National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2004 and 2005 and a recent grant from the Advanced Research Program of Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for her work on Femtosecond Laser Nano-Surgery and Two Photon Imaging.

1. Ultrafast laser material interaction.
2. Femtosecond Laser Nano-Surgery: Optical "nano-scissors" applicable at the sub-cellular and cellular level.
3. Femtosecond Laser Micro- and Nano-Fabrication Techniques: Precision material processing with femtosecond laser pulses with application to micro/nano-fabrication of a variety of materials.
4. Plasmonic Nano-Engineering: Nano-structuring based on local field enhancement in the near-field of metal nanoparticles irradiated with femtosecond laser pulses.
5. Nonlinear Imaging: Two-photon fluorescence laser scanning microscopy, second and third harmonic generation microscopies.
6. Miniaturized Endoscopes for Early Cancer Detection and Treatment.

Current Projects:

Dr. Ben-Yakar's FEMTO-lab is equipped with an amplified femtosecond laser system (1kHz Spitfire with a Tsunami oscillator), a tunable femtosecond laser oscillator (Mai-Tai) from Spectra Physics, and a home-built two-photon laser scanning microscope.

1. Development of miniaturized fiber endoscopes that combine femtosecond laser microsurgery (FLMS) with two-photon imaging for early cancer detection and treatment (utilizing optical MEMS scanners and photonic band-gap fibers).
2. Plasmonic Laser Nanosurgery (PLN):  Femtosecond laser nanosurgery by near-field enhancement of nanoparticles.
3. Early cancer detection with plasmon resonance two-photon luminescence from gold nanorods.
4. Femtosecond laser nano-axotomy to study nerve regeneration in C. elegans.
5. Design, micro-fabrication, and characterization of 3-D microfluidic devices in glass and polymeric substrates.
6. Femtosecond laser nanosurgery of carbon nanostructures.

Courses Taught:

1. Fall 2005: Fluid Mechanics (undergraduate)
2. Spring 2005: Optics and Lasers (graduate)

Publications

Selected Recent Journal Publications:

1. Yanik, F., Cinar, H., Cinar, N., Chisholm A., Jin, Y., and Ben-Yakar, A., "Nerve regeneration in Caenorhabditis elegans after femtosecond laser axotomy." Invited Paper, in press IEEE Journal (2006).
2. Yanik, F., Cinar, H., Cinar, N., Chisholm A., Jin, Y., and Ben-Yakar, A., "Neurosurgery: Functional regeneration after laser axotomy." Nature 432, 882 (2004).  (Commentary article by K. Schmidt, "Micro-scalpel offers unprecendented precision" New Scientist Magazine issue 2492, p. 40-43, 26 March 2005).
3. Ben-Yakar, A. and Byer, R.L., "Femtosecond laser ablation properties of borosilicate glass." Journal of Applied Physics, 96 (9), 5316 (2004).
4. Ben-Yakar, A., Byer, R.L., Harkin, A., Ashmore, J., Stone, H., Shen, M., and Mazur, E., "Morphology of femtosecond laser ablated borosilicate glass surfaces." Applied Physics Letters, 83 (15), p. 3030-3032 (2003).

Recent Invited Talks (since 2005):

1. Ben-Yakar, A., "Plasmonic Laser Nanosurgery."  International Workshop on Plasmonics and Applications in Nanotechnologies, Singapore, Dec. 5-7, 2006.
2. Ben-Yakar, A., "Fundamentals of Femtosecond Laser Nanosurgery and its uprising role in the treatment of cancer and neurological diseases." LEOS Annual 2006, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Oct. 29-Nov. 2, 2006.
3. Ben-Yakar, A., "Femtosecond Laser Nanosurgery and Two-Photon Imaging for Early Cancer Detection" An Interdisciplinary Approach towards Fluorescence Microscopy Workshop in 2006 CSB Conference, Stanford University.  CA, August 18, 2006.
4. Ben-Yakar, A., "Femtosecond Laser Nanosurgery, Fundamentals and Applications." Gordon Research Conference on Lasers in Medicine and Biology, Plymouth, NH, July 2-7, 2006.
5. Ben-Yakar, A., "Femtosecond Laser Nanosurgery." Optical Science and Engineering Program, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO.  Nov. 28, 2005.
6. Ben-Yakar, A., "Femtosecond Laser Ablation of Axons and the Subsequent Neural Regrowth." Optical Society of America (OSA) Annual Meeting, Tucson, Oct. 16 - 20, 2005.
7. Ben-Yakar, A., "Femtosecond Laser Nano-Axotomy: A New Tool for Nerve Regeneration Studies in C. elegans." Meeting on Stem Cells and Axonal Regeneration: Strategies for the Treatment of ALS, Banbury Center, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY, Sept. 11-14, 2005.
8. Yanik, F, Cinar, H, Cinar, N, Chisholm, A, Jin, Y, Ben-Yakar, A., "Nerve Regeneration after Femtosecond Laser Nano-Axotomy" European Conference on Biomedical Optics, Munich, 13-16 June 2005.
9. Ben-Yakar, A., "Femtosecond Laser Applications in Life Sciences." IGERT Seminar, Biomedical Engineering Department, University of Texas at Austin, Feb. 11, 2005.

 

Thermal/Fluids Systems | Mechanical Engineering Department | College of Engineering | The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station C2200 | Austin TX 78712-0292 | Phone: 512-471-4584 | Fax: 512-471-1045 | Email: dena.wagner@engr.utexas.edu
| Contact Webmaster.