Francisco Robles

Dr. Francisco Robles is an Assistant Professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of ECE. He leads the Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy (OIS) Lab, which develops advanced optical technologies for biomedical applications, including cancer detection, tumor margin assessment, and hematology. His work focuses on label-free spectroscopic methods and signal processing to enhance functional and molecular contrast in biological systems.

He holds a B.S. in Physics and Nuclear Engineering from North Carolina State University (2007), a Ph.D. in Medical Physics from Duke University (2011), and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chemistry at Duke (2016). His research spans optical imaging, nonlinear optics, and biomedical device development.

Key research interests include:

• Quantitative phase imaging and tomography
• Deep-UV microscopy for label-free cell analysis
• Deep learning for virtual histology and diagnostics
• Point-of-care medical devices

Notable awards include the NSF CAREER Award (2018) and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award (2015). His lab actively collaborates on biomanufacturing automation and digital twin technologies for cell therapies.