This website is a resource for interested users and developers of open-source computational (virtual) technologies for the Biomedical Optics community. The Virtual Photonics Technology Initiative was initiated and supported from 2008 – 2019 by the Laser Microbeam and Medical Program (LAMMP), an NIBIB Biomedical Technology Resource Center at the Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic. This Initiative remains active and welcomes contributions, collaboration, and support from potential academic and industrial stakeholders.

Our Primary Goals Are:

• Provide easy-to-use software tools with graphical-user interfaces to simulate the propagation and distribution of optical radiation in cells and tissues.
  
  
• Supply educational resources that provide the appropriate foundation for the proper usage of these computational tools.
  
  
• Stimulate the formation of an active community of experts and developers in Computational Biophotonics to advance this open-source effort.
  
  

• Develop improved computational models to simulate and design optical diagnostic, imaging, and therapeutic modalities.
  
  

Virtual Tissue Simulator (VTS)

The primary vehicle for the accomplishment of these goals is the ongoing development of the Virtual Tissue Simulator (VTS). The VTS is being designed as a modular and scalable platform to provide an integrated suite of computational tools to define, solve, visualize, and analyze relevant forward and inverse radiative transport problems in Biomedical Optics. We intend to develop specific Application ToolKits (ATKs) that will provide a user-interface customized for the simulation of issues specific to an application domain. Examples include Small Animal Imaging and Fiber Optic Probe development.