People

Principal Investigator

Bryan Q. Spring, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Department of Physics

Northeastern University

Interdisciplinary Science & Engineering Complex (ISEC), Room 314

805 Columbus Ave, Boston, MA 02120

Bryan Q. Spring is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Physics and Affiliated Faculty in Bioengineering at Northeastern University (Boston). Dr. Spring began his research career as an NSF undergraduate fellow with Robert S. Knox (University of Rochester), studying the photophysics of Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET). He completed his Ph.D. with Robert M. Clegg (University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign), where he developed fluorescence lifetime and quantitative FRET imaging methods. During his postdoctoral fellowship with Tayyaba Hasan at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine (Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School), he created patented technologies for molecular imaging and selective treatment of cancer micrometastases.

Since joining Northeastern in 2015, Dr. Spring has received the NCI Transition Career Development Award (K22), a Smith Family Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research, and multiple grants from the National Cancer Institute, including within the Physical Sciences–Oncology Network. He was named a Scialog Fellow for Advancing Bioimaging in 2021.

Dr. Spring is also co-founder of Nira Biosciences, which secured Series A funding in 2021. In 2024, Nira’s platform and assets were integrated into Alys Pharmaceuticals, a company developing new therapies for immuno-dermatology with the mission of reducing suffering worldwide.

Outside the laboratory, he enjoys meditation, calisthenics, and running.

Northeastern Faculty Profile | Curriculum Vitae | LinkedIn

Postdoctoral Researchers

Kai Zhang, Ph.D.

Ph.D. Physics, Northeastern University, 2023

B.S. Physics, University of Minnesota, 2015

Kai joined the Spring lab in 2017 as a graduate student. His research focuses on multiphoton fluorescence microendoscopy. In collaboration with Nima, he works on building the femtosecond pulsed, all-normal-dispersion fiber laser with the new design. He also leads the assembling and testing of the hand-hold miniature probe of the endoscope with fiber scanner and micro-objective in collaboration with Guillaume.

Kai also leads the design and assembly of the LED-based low-cost photodynamic therapy setup, helps on the FPGA-based multichannel GHz data acquisition project, manages and maintains the servers and workstations of the lab, and cleans the lab space.

Kai graduated with a B.S. in Physics from the University of Minnesota, with the major project of the characterization of the iron oxide compound with Mössbauer Spectroscopy. He also built a Mie Scattering characterization setup and a B-mode ultrasound imaging device for teaching during his student-worker program.

Kai's LinkedIn

Liam Price

Ph.D. Physics, Northeastern University, 2025

B.S. Physics, Northeastern University, 2018

Liam joined the Spring Lab in early 2019. He is currently focused on several optical engineering based projects, including assisting in the design of a microendoscope for glioblastoma removal, as well as compound prism design for use in hyperspectral imaging. Liam completed his B.S. in Biomedical Physics at Northeastern in 2018 where he focused on nanomedicine and the clinical applications of optics. In his free time, Liam enjoys spending his free time building computers and listening to music.

Graduate Students

Sudip Timilsina

Doctoral Candidate, Physics, Northeastern University

B.S. Physics, Tribhuvan University, 2016

Sudip joined the Spring Lab in 2020 during his second year in the PhD program. His primary research focuses on the development of a multi-targeted photoimmunotherapy platform to address the heterogeneity of ovarian cancer, particularly high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC). This involves the use of proteomics, flow cytometry, and confocal microscopy to identify and evaluate cell surface proteins as potential PIT targets in various conventional and primary tumor models.

Sudip also serves as the lab’s compliance liaison, managing SciShield (formerly Bioraft) to ensure adherence to institutional, biosafety, and OSHA regulations. He oversees safety training compliance, project and inventory updates, hazardous material barcoding, and the proper handling and disposal of biohazard and chemical waste. In addition, he takes on various responsibilities related to lab management and operations. Outside the lab, he enjoys listening to music and radio, and watching soccer.

Ji Tae Park

PhD Student, Physics, Northeastern University

PharmD, Northeastern University, 2022

B.S. Pharmacy Studies, Northeastern University, 2021

Ji Tae joined the Spring Lab in 2019 during his undergraduate years at Northeastern University. He completed the six-year accelerated Pharmacy School program at Bouve College of Health Sciences and earned his Doctor of Pharmacy with a minor in physics. Following his true passion, he is now a first year PhD student in physics. Ji Tae's both computational and experimental research focuses on investigating the behaviors of antibody and antibody-conjugates (such as photoimmunoconjugates) in tumor microenvironment. He hopes his both theoretical and empirical approaches to the problem would enable quantification and better understanding of important phenomena such as bystander effects, selectivity/avidity, and resistance to targeted therapies. He is also a breakdancer and a passionate fan of Chelsea, an English Premier League soccer team.

Nicholas Otero

Ph.D. Student, Physics, Northeastern University

B.S. Physics & Forensic Science, Syracuse University, 2021

Nick joined the Spring Lab in 2023 at the beginning of his 3rd year in the Ph.D. program. His research is focused on developing 3D microfluidic cell culture models to optimize the dosimetry of various drug formulations for use in tumor-targeted activatable photoimmunotherapy. Additionally, he works on the application of silicon photomultipliers to our microendoscope system to achieve high-speed hyperspectral imaging of tumors. Nick completed his B.S. in Physics in 2021 at Syracuse University where his research focused on developing novel nanopore protein structures as biosensors. In his free time, Nick enjoys listening to music, watching horror movies, and being active.

Ivonne Lozano-Pope

Ph.D. Student, Physics, Northeastern University

M.S. in Molecular Biology, Montclair State University, 2013

B.S. in Biology at St. John’s University, 2007

Ivonne Lozano-Pope is a cancer biologist with a strong background in molecular biology and translational research. She holds an MS in Molecular Biology and has over a decade of combined experience in academic and pharmaceutical settings. Her research focuses on ovarian and colorectal cancers, using patient-derived organoid co-culture models to investigate tumor-immune interactions, chemoresistance, and novel therapeutic strategies. She is particularly interested in combining photodynamic therapy with adoptive T cell therapy to reprogram the tumor microenvironment. Ivonne integrates advanced imaging, including two-photon microscopy, and computational analysis to uncover mechanisms of immune modulation. Her work has led to multiple peer-reviewed publications in cancer biology and immunotherapy.

Research Technician

Aden Johnson-Shoucair

M.S. in Biotechnology, Northeastern University, 2023

B.A. in Biochemistry, Earlham College, 2020

Aden began working in the Spring Laboratory as a master’s student before rejoining the laboratory post-graduation in 2024. His current research focuses on evaluating tumor-targeted activatable photodynamic therapy in cell culture and in vivo, with a particular emphasis on developing immunodeficient and syngeneic cancer mouse models for photodynamic therapy testing. He is also interested in observing the impacts of modulating the dosages of targeted photodynamic therapy on immune cell sparing and stimulation. When not in the laboratory, Aden enjoys bicycling, playing the clarinet, and board games.

Undergraduate Students

Rami Taha

Bioengineering and Biochemistry, Northeastern University, 2027

Rami is an undergraduate student majoring in bioengineering and biochemistry on the premed track. Rami is assisting Becca and Sudip with their cell cultures. Rami is a passionate advocate for lung cancer, the deadliest cancer in the US. He is working with ALCSI, congress, and MGH to get those at high risk of developing lung cancer free screenings at MGH.

Maria Mataac

Northeastern University, Physics, 2025

Maria is a fourth-year Applied Physics major following a pre-medical track at Northeastern University. She joined Spring Lab in December 2021 and assisted Kai in fabricating, characterizing, and optimizing the lab’s novel femtosecond fiber laser. After taking a hiatus from the lab to pursue CT radiation risk research in the MGH Radiology department, she rejoined the lab in August 2024 to assist Ivonne Lozano-Pope with the study of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), their influence on the tumor microenvironment, and the potential for their targeting in novel cancer therapies. She will also be working with Sudip on staining and imaging TAMs co-cultures with ovarian cancer cells via hyperspectral confocal and multiphoton microscopy. In her free time, Maria enjoys playing basketball, lifting weights, and dancing with Northeastern Barkada, the Filipino culture organization on campus.

Jacob Gagnon

Biomedical Physics, Northeastern University, 2025

Jacob is a fourth year Biomedical Physics major at Northeastern University, pursuing minors in Mathematics and Data Science. He joined Spring lab in June 2024 and is currently upgrading the interface program for the two-photon microendoscope project. His past and ongoing projects include the effects of magnetism and medium on photon transmission, a dynamic simulation of Brownian motion, an interactive complex number coordinate plane, and data analytics on Radiation-Induced Heart Disease (RIHD). In his free time, Jacob enjoys practicing karate, running, and serving as standards chair for Northeastern’s chapter of Alpha Phi Omega, the community service fraternity on campus.

Ansa Brew-Smith

Data Science and Physics, Northeastern University, 2027

Ansa is an undergraduate student majoring in Data Science and Physics. He assists Ji Tae with a mathematical and computational project modeling drug delivery in cellular structures during cancer treatments. He is passionate about the theoretical/computational side of physics. In his free time, he enjoys skateboarding and music.

Jeonghyun "Jay" Oh

Biomedical Physics, Northeastern University, 2026

Jay is a third-year undergraduate student studying biomedical physics at Northeastern University. He joined ng lab in March 2023 as a volunteer and trained under Sudip Timilsina in cell culture and other basic photomedicine-related experiments. After his first co-op at the Hasan Lab at MGH/HMS, Jay rejoined the group as a full-time co-op student for the 2025 Spring cycle.

Jay is currently working closely with Sudip on patient-derived high-grade serous ovarian cancer cells, testing their sensitivity to chemotherapy and photodynamic therapy. Jay also assists Sudip with testing the efficacy of different photosensitizers through light dosing on other cell lines. Outside of working, Jay enjoys participating in different sports, such as soccer, basketball, and rock climbing, as well as running, and lifting weights.

Alumni

Aryan Mehrotra

M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2024

B.A. in Biochemistry, Earlham College, 2020

Aryan joined the Spring Lab in 2024. He’s working on firmware development for the FPGA frame grabber for the microendoscopy project to allow for efficient multichannel data acquisition. He completed his M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering (Spring 2024) and his B.S. in Computer Engineering (Spring 2023) from Northeastern University with a focus on computer systems and FPGA design. In his free time, Aryan enjoys running, playing video games, and watching cricket.

Sanjana Reddy Bobbala

M.S in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northeastern University, 2025

Sanjana joined the Spring Lab in 2023 and is assisting Kai with research about FPGA mezzanine card hardware and programming specifications to develop a 32-channel frame grabber for hyperspectral multiphoton microendoscopy. During her undergraduate studies, she worked on custom IC projects involving FPGA technology, gaining valuable experience in hardware design and verification. Sanjana aims to build her future career in integrated circuits, focusing on designing and verifying innovative and efficient system solutions. In her free time, she enjoys drawing, singing, reading, and experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen

Rebecca Harman, Ph.D.

Doctoral Candidate, Physics, Northeastern University

B.S. Physics, Harvey Mudd College, 2017

Rebecca joined the Spring Lab in early 2019. She is investigating new approaches to tumor-targeted, activatable photomedicine and precision microsurgery that address heterogenous deposits of cancer cells missed by standard therapies. As an undergraduate at Harvey Mudd College, she completed a senior thesis project applying single-molecule super-resolution microscopy to study the huntingtin protein aggregation associated with the genetic mutation that causes Huntington's disease. Rebecca aims to become a professor and to pursue a research career in interdisciplinary biomedical physics and biophysical microscopy.

Rebecca's Linkedin

Gabriel Hill

Physics and Philosophy, Northeastern University, 2026

Gabriel Hill is a second-year student at Northeastern University who is currently pursuing a degree in Physics and Philosophy. He joined Spring Lab in 2023 and he is currently assisting Liam Price and Kai Zhang in developing and building new housing for the microendoscope. His dream is to eventually do research as a career and he hopes to continue to cultivate this passion through his work in the lab.

Nikolas Sanderson

Electrical Engineering, Northeastern University, 2026

Nikolas is a second year student at Northeastern University majoring in Electrical Engineering. He joined the Spring Lab in June 2022 and is assisting Kai Zhang in developing a femtosecond laser pulse splitter. He hopes to pursue a PhD in engineering in the future with a career in research and development. He is an active member of both NUAerospace and Northeastern Robotics.

Jvalanti Prasad

Northeastern University, Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2024

Jvalanti is a third year Electrical and Computer Engineering major with a minor in Physics. She joined our lab in January 2023 and is currently assisting PhD candidates Liam Price and Kai Zhang in fabricating custom detectors and femtosecod lasers for multiphoton microendoscopy.

Ellie Smith

Northeastern University, Biochemistry, 2023

Ellie is a second year Biochemistry major following a pre-medicine track that has been with the Spring Lab since October 2019. She primarily works with the cell culture team developing models of chemoresistant ovarian cancer. As well as volunteering in the Spring Lab, she is a trainee in the CaNCURE cancer nanomedicine program working at Massachusetts General Hospital in Dr. Medarova’s lab on RNAi therapies for breast cancer. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, figure skating, and baking.

Matthew Waguespack

B.S. Physics, East Carolina University, 2016

Matt joined the Spring Lab in 2018 with a focus on tumor cell ablation and the feasibility of femtosecond microsurgery. He is also creating a Monte Carlo program for mapping photon delivery in the tumor microenvironment. Matt graduated with a B.S in Physics from East Carolina University in 2016 where he studied optically stimulated luminescence leading to the development of a device to detect absorbed radiation within teeth.

Dr. Ryan Lang

Ph.D., Physics, Northeastern University, 2021

B.S. Physics, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 2016

Ryan joined the Spring Lab in 2017 via the graduate summer fellowship program hosted by the Physics Department. He is primarily focused on fluorescence microscopy and image analysis, and he has developed video-mosaicking algorithms for real-time hyperspectral imaging systems He is involved in many other projects, including personalized photomedicine and characterization of multi-photon cross-sections of many common fluorophores to fill in gaps in the literature (particularly beyond 1000 nm). Ryan completed his B.S. program in Physics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2016, where he focused his studies in Optics, Photonics, and Lasers.

Ryan's LinkedIn

Dr. Eric Kercher

Ph.D., Physics, Northeastern University, 2020

B.S. Physics, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, 2015

Eric's interdisciplinary research career led him to join the Spring Lab in 2016, where he was involved in many projects, and he spearheaded our efforts to learn about and characterize specific phenotypes within a heterogeneous culture of cancer cells. Eric is primarily interested in developing translatable cancer therapies by combining his experience in fundamental photophysics, medical imaging, and cancer biology. Eric also received a Certificate in Nanomedicine through the Nanomedicine Academy as part of his doctoral training, and hopes to use these concepts to create new nanomedicines later in his career. In 2015, Eric completed the Pediatric Oncology Education (POE) program at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital where he worked on hepatic iron quantification using MRI in the Diagnostic Imaging Department. He enjoys running, cycling, and watching sports in his spare time.

Eric's LinkedIn

Alejandro Olmos

Northeastern University, Health Sciences, 2022

Alejandro joined the Spring Lab in the Fall of 2018 and his work has focused on preclinical tumor culture models. Presently, Alejandro is exploring several resistance mechanisms of cancer cells in two- and three-dimensional culture models to create new models of chemoresistant ovarian cancer. In his spare time, he enjoys piloting small planes, exploring new restaurants, and traveling.

Alejandro's Linkedin

Sophia Renauld

Northeastern University, Physics, 2021

Sophia is a first year Biomedical Physics major at Northeastern University. She joined the lab in winter of 2018 as member of our cell culture team. She plans to leverage this research experience to guide her future career path in medicine. In her free time, she works as a ski instructor and soccer coach.

Sophia's LinkedIn

Dr. Nima Davoudzadeh

Ph.D., Southern Illinois University (Carbondale), 2014

Nima's research interests include lasers, photonic circuit design and fabrication, and imaging systems. He joined the Spring Lab as a postdoctoral fellow in 2016 to design and implement fiber-based femtosecond lasers suitable for two and three photon imaging of microscopic disease. These innovative lasers are characterized by their multi-wavelength, femtosecond pulses that propagate entirely within a fiber ring and are ideal for low-cost and compact multiphoton endoscopy.

Previously, Nima was a postdoctoral scholar at the Photonic Systems Lab (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), where he focused on utilizing both the thermal bi-stability of Si3N4 and the Kerr Effect nonlinearity of LiNbO3 micro-ring resonators to implement an optical clock pulse generator and an optical analog to digital (A/D) converter. One highlight of these novel schemes was a significant enhancement of the micro-ring resonator quality factor (Q).

Nima's LinkedIn

Dr. Guillaume Ducourthial

Ph.D. in Photonics Systems, University of Limoges, France, 2014

Guillaume brought his expertise in photonic and fiber-optic systems to our lab in 2016 to lead development of a low-cost, all-fiber multi-photon imaging device. This miniaturized fiber scanning probe is designed to simultaneously deliver femtosecond pulses for multi-photon excitation and collect hyperspectral fluorescence emission at rates of 15 frames per second or greater (i.e., video rate acquisition).

Formerly, Guillaume's Ph.D. work at XLIM concerned the development of new fiber-optic imaging tools based on multi-photon responses. He successfully verified the feasibility of a fiber-optic multi-photon microscope with characteristics on par with those of a commercial device, and continued on to miniaturize this microscope in order to obtain a flexible multi-photon microendoscope compatible with in vivo imaging. Guillaume also held a postdoctoral position at the Laboratoire d’Optique et Bioscience (Palaiseau, France), where he implemented a fast polarization modulation system to study the effect of mechanical stresses on biological tissues using Second Harmonic Generation microscopy in living samples.

Guillaume's LinkedIn

Gabby Brauner

Northeastern University, Health Science, 2018

Gabby joined the Spring Lab as a co-op student through the CaNCURE program, and was instrumental in setting up our lab and helping perform our cell culture experiments. After her co-op, she continued her work characterizing chemo-resistant ovarian cancer cell lines for her senior capstone project. She is a pre-med student who is starting medical school in the Fall of 2018. Previously, she worked at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the Comprehensive Breast Center as a medical assistant. Outside of the lab, Gabby enjoys running and taking spin classes.

Gabby's LinkedIn

Taresh Sharan

Visiting Scholar, Physics, Northeastern University

Doctoral Candidate, Indian Institute of Technology, Varanasi, 2016

Taresh is a graduate student pursuing his doctoral training at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Varanasi, India. Trained as an electrical and biomedical engineer, his research focuses on the applications of spectroscopy, image and signal processing methods in biomedical diagnostics. Currently, he is working on the application of Raman Spectroscopy in cardiac biomarker detection for a prognosis for heart muscle deterioration and the application of deep learning-based techniques to classify heart conditions based on different imaging techniques.

Arvind Mohan

M.S. Student in Bioengineering, Northeastern University

B.E. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, BITS Pilani, 2016

Arvind joined the Spring Lab in the spring of 2018 as an instrumentation specialist. He will be working on the development of a laser-scanning, multi-photon, and microendoscopic probe for his masters thesis project. He completed his Bachelors of Engineering in Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, India in 2016 where he worked on imaging malarial parasite detection in stained blood smear images. Arvind is a recipient of the KVPY Scholarship, a fellowship bestowed by the Government of India for Excellence in Science. Arvind wishes to work in research regarding imaging techniques for cancer and diabetes in the future. In his free time Arvind enjoys playing the violin and is an avid football fan.

Arvind's LinkedIn

Jiancheng (J.C.) Zeng

Doctoral Candidate, Physics, Northeastern University

B.S. Physics, Sun Yat-Sen University, 2018

J.C. joined the Spring Lab in 2019 with a focus on large stream data analysis. He designed a circuit based on FPGA card which will be applied to collect hyper frequency data. He graduated with a B.S in Physics from Sun Yat-Sen University(Guangzhou) in 2018 where he studied particle physics and Monte Carlo simulation. He enjoys rock music in his free time as well as playing guitar himself. J.C. left the Spring Lab to pursue his passion in particle physics and continues to collaborate with us on the FPGA project.

Julia Tatz

Northeastern University, Physics, 2019

Lauren Herschelman

Northeastern University, Bioengineering, 2020

Lauren joined the Spring lab after receiving the Undergraduate Women in Physics award for undergraduate research. She presently contributes to the cell culture team to develop and characterize new models of chemoresistant disease. Lauren plans to attend medical school after graduation. Outside of the lab, she enjoys running and eating lots of food.

Jiasen Hou

Northeastern University, Applied Physics, 2020

Anna McIntyre

Northeastern University, Biochemistry, 2020

Anna is currently pursuing her bachelor’s in Biochemistry at Northeastern University. She plays a critical role in advancing our cell culture lab. In addition to volunteering in the Spring Lab, she is also involved in a research project at JFK Medical Center working in the Sleep Medicine department. In her spare time she enjoys swimming, running, and teaching fitness classes. Anna hopes to pursue a career in medicine following her undergraduate career.

Anna's LinkedIn

Jen Selingo

Northeastern University, Physics, 2020

Jen joined our lab as an undergraduate in Spring 2018, contributing to the design and implementation of a high-power LED array that is central to the lab's low-cost PDT system. Her work expanded to our microendoscope team, where she created an automated LabVIEW program to calibrate the scanning pattern by principal axis identification. She graduated with a BS in Applied Physics in May 2020. As an aspiring R&D engineer, she is pursuing her Master's degree in Biomedical Engineering at Duke University with a certificate in Medical Device Design. In her free time, Jen loves genealogy research and discovering new music.

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