Stephen A. Boppart, a Bliss Professor of Engineering with appointments in the departments of electrical and computer engineering, of bioengineering, and of internal medicine at Illinois, has been awarded the Hans Sigrist Prize, an international prize presented annually to a distinguished scientist in a selected field.

The 2012 award was competitively selected to honor outstanding research in the field of diagnostic laser medicine. Boppart’s interdisciplinary research group combines the fields of engineering, medicine, and biology to diagnostically assess cells and tissue for disease. Biophotonics, the application of light in medicine, biology, and biotechnology applications, allows researchers to develop novel technologies to detect disease at early stages, when it is most amenable to treatment. His Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory at the Beckman Institute focuses on developing novel optical biomedical diagnostic and imaging technologies, and translating them into clinical applications.