Mihaela Balu

Mihaela Balu is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) School of Medicine, affiliated with the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. Her work focuses on advancing multiphoton microscopy (MPM) and reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) for noninvasive skin imaging and therapeutic monitoring.

Dr. Balu’s research interests span vitiligo treatment response, melanoma diagnosis, and skin metabolic dynamics. She develops optical biomarkers to predict therapeutic outcomes and studies keratinocyte-melanocyte interactions in autoimmune skin conditions.

Her recent publications highlight innovations in label-free imaging, including FLAME exoscope design, mitochondrial clustering analysis, and keratinocyte metabolism in vitiligo. She has received NIH funding (e.g., R01 EB026705, R21 AR073408) and owns patents related to MPM technology, commercialized via her startup Infraderm, LLC.

Dr. Balu’s work bridges basic research and clinical translation, emphasizing noninvasive diagnostics and precision medicine. Her collaborative projects involve multidisciplinary teams across dermatology, biomedical engineering, and cancer research.