ASLMS Research Grants

ASLMS Research Grants is sponsored by American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery, Inc. (ASLMS). The ASLMS annually awards research grants to projects that have a direct implication for medical or surgical applications in lasers and energy-based technologies. The grants foster the development and use of these technologies.

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Specialties Using Lasers and Energy-Based Devices Common Treatments and Procedures New Beginnings Tattoo Removal Program Clean Slate Tattoo Removal WE'VE CREATED A PLACE JUST FOR THE PUBLIC. BE SURE TO VISIT IT TODAY! Visit Area Your resource for jobs in the laser and energy-based medicine industry.

Publications and Communications Lasers in Surgery and Medicine Journal Nursing and Allied Health Professionals Women in Energy-Based Devices WE'VE CREATED A PLACE JUST FOR PROFESSIONALS. BE SURE TO VISIT IT TODAY! Visit Area The American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery (ASLMS) supports research projects designed to foster the development and use of lasers and other related technologies in medical and surgical applications.

Learn more about the ASLMS Research Fund and its contributors . WHAT TYPES OF RESEARCH PROJECTS RECEIVE GRANTS? The primary purpose of the ASLMS Research Grant Program is to conduct research that can be applied to medical and surgical care of patients.

Preference will be given to proposed research projects which have a direct implication for medical or surgical applications. While the best research projects will be given priority, a concerted effort will be made to award a balance of basic science and clinical research. Learn more about past research grants awarded.

WHICH GRANT SHOULD I APPLY FOR? To be eligible, applicants must presently be enrolled in or have completed post-doctoral and/or residency training after January 1, 2019. All non-ASLMS members will be required to apply for and be accepted into ASLMS membership.

For ASLMS Student Research Grant application purposes, a student is defined as an undergraduate student, graduate student (including residents and fellows), or any individual who is employed by an organization in a capacity or classification due primarily to their student status. Students cannot serve as the principal investigator for non-student research proposals.

No grant will be awarded to any person if the award would be contrary to any United States law, including but not limited to trade embargoes or sanctions administered by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. For questions regarding the grant submission process, please contact the Central Office via email or call (715) 845-9283 or toll-free (877) 258-6028.

Learn More About the Grant Writing Process In this grant writing interview, ASLMS Early Career Student Board Representatives Bonnie Carney, PhD and Nitesh Katta, PhD speak with Melissa Harris, PhD to gain insight on grant applications. Your browser does not support the audio tag. The following pertains to the 2026 grant applications.

Applications for 2026 grants are no longer being accepted. Instructions and Guidelines Student Instructions and Guidelines ASLMS Research Grants for Early Career Professionals Edward C. Kuan, MD, MBA, former ASLMS Resident/Fellow Student Board Representative, talks about the benefits of receiving an ASLMS Research Grant.

2026 Research Grant Recipients Postdoctoral NIH Trainee, Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) “Light-Based Tumor Vascular Remodeling Potentiates Antitumor CD8+ T Cell Immunity” 2026 Student Research Grant Recipients Student, The Regents of the University of California, Irvine “Efficacy of Laser Therapy for Facial Telangiectasias with or without Systemic Sclerosis” Student, University of Massachusetts, Lowell & Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) “Optical Polarization Imaging Smart Phone Attachment for Monitoring Radiation Therapy of Skin Cancers” 2025 Research Grant Recipients Massachusetts General Hospital, Wellman Center for Photomedicine Supporting ASLMS Member: R.

Rox Anderson, MD “Enhancing Diabetic Wound Healing via Immune Modulation with a Bacterial Metabolite and Red Light” 2025 Student Research Grant Recipients Albert Einstein College of Medicine Supporting ASLMS Member: Kseniya Kobets, MD, MHS “1470 nm Non-Ablative Laser for the Treatment of Scarring Alopecia: A Clinical and Mechanistic Study” University of Miami, Dr. Phillip Frost Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery Supporting ASLMS Member: Ariel Eber, MD “The Effect of the 1726nm Laser Treatment on Hidradenitis Suppurativa Lesions” 2024 Research Grant Recipients Massachusetts General Hospital Supporting ASLMS Member: Margaret A.

Naser, PhD “Transcranial Photobiomodulation with Near-infrared Light: a Potential Non-invasive Tool to Enhance Glymphatic Function” Harvard Medical School, MGH, Wellman Center for Photomedicine Supporting ASLMS Member: R.

Rox Anderson, MD “Cryoprotectant-assisted Cryotherapy for Congenital Melanocytic Lesions” 2024 Student Research Grant Recipients The Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc. Supporting ASLMS Member: Hye Jin Chung, MD, MMSc “Characterizing in Vitro Rheologic Properties of Thermally-Damaged Hyaluronic Acid Fillers” Supporting ASLMS Member: Karuna Dewan, MD “Laser for Leukoplakia: Which Office Laser Treatment is Better?

” Grant Swajian BS, MS, PhD Student The Regents of the University of California, Riverside Campus Supporting ASLMS Member: Bahman Anvari, PhD “Near Infrared Erythrocyte-Derived Transducers (NETs) for Effective Photocoagulation in Port Wine Birthmark Treatment: A Preclinical Study Using a Pigmentation-Controlled Transgenic Mouse Model” 2023 Research Grant Recipient Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Boston, Massachusetts Supporting ASLMS Member: R.

Rox Anderson, MD “Selective Imaging and Killing of Wound Bacteria by a Novel Pro-Photosensitizer” 2023 Student Research Grant Recipient University of California, Irvine Supporting ASLMS Member: Brian J. F.

Wong, MD, PhD, FACS “OCT Evaluation of the Femtosecond Laser Channel Creations in Human Donor Eyes: Optimizing the Pulse Energy for the Treatment of Glaucoma” 2022 Research Grant Recipients Massachusetts General Hospital Wellman Center for Photomedicine Supporting ASLMS Member: R.

Rox Anderson, MD "Application of a novel 'Optical-tympanostomy Tube' to prevent and treat tympanostomy tube otorrhea" Nitesh Katta, PhD, MSc, BTech/MTech University of California Irvine, Beckman Laser Institute Supporting ASLMS Member: Thomas E.

Milner, PhD "Image-guided intravascular laser lithotripsy for improving coronary artery compliance" 2022 Student Research Grant Recipients Cosmetic Laser Dermatology: A West Dermatology Company Supporting ASLMS Member: Mitchel P.

Goldman, MD "A Prospective, Single-center, Double-blinded, Randomized, Split-face Study Evaluating 1064 nm versus 755 nm Picosecond Lasers with Diffractive Lens Array for Improvement of Skin Quality" 2021 Research Grant Recipients Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute Supporting ASLMS Member: Shilpi Khetarpal, MD “Development of a novel therapeutics for nonresponsive neovascular age-related macular degeneration” 2021 Student Research Grant Recipients Carolina dos Anjos, MSc, DVM Massachusetts General Hospital Supporting ASLMS Member: R.

Rox Anderson, MD “Administration of oxygen microbubbles and antimicrobial blue light for the treatment of urinary tract infections” UCI Health Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic Supporting ASLMS Member: Brian J. F.

Wong, MD, PhD “Multimodal Optical Characterization of Electromechanical Cornea Reshaping” 2020 Research Grant Recipients The Regents of the University of California, Los Angeles Supporting ASLMS Member: Brian J. F. Wong, MD, PhD “Label-free Real-time Hyperspectral Autofluorescence Lifetime Imaging for Molecular-guided Surgery of Oral Cancers” Massachusetts General Hospital Supporting ASLMS Member: R.

Rox Anderson, MD “Blue light makes antibiotics great again! ” 2020 Student Research Grant Recipients MedStar Health Research Institute Supporting ASLMS Member: Taryn E.

Travis, MD, FACS “Treatment of hypopigmented hypertophic scar with synthetic alpha melanocyte stimulating hormone (α-MSH) through micro-channel drug delivery” Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Supporting ASLMS Member: R.

Rox Anderson, MD “Effectiveness of small-scale Z-incisions with photochemical tissue bonding closure in reduction of skin tension ” The Regents of the University of California Supporting ASLMS Member: Yona Tadir, MD “ Monitoring and Management of Vaginal Health via Multifunctional OCT/OCTA/OCE Endoscopy ” Joseph N.

Mehrabi, BS, MS Department of Dermatology at University of California, Irvine Supporting ASLMS Member: Christopher B. Zachary, MBBS, FRCP “Optical coherence tomography guided laser treatment of non-melanoma skin cancers” 2019 Research Grant Recipients Massachusetts General Hospital Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Harvard Medical School Supporting ASLMS Member: R.

Rox Anderson, MD “Identifying an Early Mechanbo-biomarker of Metastasis Risk in Breast Carcinoma Using Laser Speckle Micro-rheology of the Tumor Extra-Cellular Matrix” Our goal is to exploit a novel optical approach for micro-mechanical imaging of the breast tumor tissue and for developing an early mechano-biomarker of metastasis risk in patients. University of South Carolina School of Medicine Supporting ASLMS Member: J.

Stuart Nelson, MD, PhD “ Targeting Port Wine Stain Blood Vessels by Endothelial Optical Exosomes ” The purpose of this seed grant aims at engineering novel endothelial exosome-derived optical nanoparticles for treatment of Port wine stain (PWS), which can be ultimately developed as a personalized precision photodynamic therapy (PDT) for congenital vascular malformations (CVM).

2019 Student Research Grant Recipients Supporting ASLMS Member: Arisa E.

Ortiz, MD “ Topical Tranexamic Acid Versus Fractional Drug Delivery of Tranexamic Acid for the Treatment of Melasma ” We hypothesize that the fractional Er:YAG delivery of TA 5% cream would result in a greater decrease in MASI scores when compared with topical TA alone given its multitargeted approach with efficient drug delivery, and anti-tyrosinase activity of TA.

Because the cutaneous absorption of the Er:YAG laser by water is more efficient than the CO2 laser, the Er:YAG laser has potential for less thermal damage and thus decreased risk to develop post-inflammatory hypopigmentation. We hypothesize that this combination approach will provide an effective, long-term treatment option for patients suffering from melasma. The Regents of the University of California Supporting ASLMS Member: Brian J.

F. Wong, MD, PhD “ Quantification of Symptomatic Vitreous Floaters Using Optical Coherence Tomography ” We first aim to utilize VCSEL as the light source to achieve near full-depth imaging of the vitreous body for the quantification of floater geometry. Secondly, we will address the challenges associated with increasing imaging ranges, namely increased dispersion and limited depth of focus .

Supporting ASLMS Member: Molly Wanner, MD, MBA “ The clinical, microscopic and molecular effects of ablative fractional CO2 laser-assisted drug delivery of collagenase on striae distensae ” We hypothesize that ablative fractional CO2 laser-assisted drug delivery of collagenase will improve the appearance of striae distensae more than ablative fractional CO2 laser alone.

We propose that the mechanism of clinical improvement will be secondary to potentiated remodeling of dermal collagen, elastin and extracellular matrix components by this combination treatment, as evidenced by microscopic and molecular markers of normalization of collagen, elastin, fibrillin, MMPs and TGF-β.

Supporting ASLMS Member: Yang Liu, PhD “ Real-time Tissue Perfusion Assessment Using Fluorescence Imaging Topography Scanning System ” The objective of this proposal is to develop a clinically useful FITS system for intraoperative blood perfusion and assessment, and to evaluate the feasibility of the developed FITS prototype for real-time visualization of vascular flow in small animal models.

Moy-Fincher-Chipps Facial Plastics & Dermatology Supporting ASLMS Member: Ronald Moy, MD “ Effects of 2,940-nm Fractional Ablative Erbium and Topical DNA Repair Enzymes on p53 Epidermal Expression After 3 months: A Comparative Clinical Trial ” The objective of this study is to compare the impact of topical DNA repair enzymes, specifically T4 Endonuclease V, and laser resurfacing with the 2,940nm fractional erbium on epidermal p53 expression.

Supporting ASLMS Member: Jennifer Kehlet Barton, PhD “ Combined Optical Coherence Tomography and Autofluorescence Imaging for Screening of Early-stage Esophageal Cancer ” The ultimate outcome of this study is to determine the diagnostic potential of combined OCT-AFI for disease screening.

If positive, this could create a new paradigm for esophageal tissue assessment, reducing the number of biopsies necessary to successfully identify a case of early-stage cancer. In addition, given the clinically-translatable design, a positive result will motivate the pursuit of an RO1 grant to conduct a clinical trial.