UCI Wins Federal Grant to Study Laser Use

Can high-tech lasers, optics and detectors developed for military purposes also wage war on disease? That’s what UC Irvine researchers and physicians aim to find out.

The university recently received a $1-million federal grant to set up a think tank devoted to that task. Designed to nurture local business start-ups in biotechnology, the program will be run out of the school’s nonprofit Beckman Laser Institute.

The $1-million grant from the Commerce Department will pay for half of the costs of constructing a 9,600-square-foot expansion to house the program’s engineering and biomedical labs and clinical offices. The state, UCI and the Beckman institute will provide additional funding, according to the school.

The expansion is expected to be completed within a year and a half. The institute, which supports biomedical research and clinical uses involving optical technologies, separately serves as a clinic for its medical school.