"By using fiber optics, we can bring the light to wherever we need to within the body,” says Christine P. Hendon, associate professor of electrical engineering. In the lab, Hendon and her students refine near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and optical coherence tomography (OCT), both of which emit light into the body and measure what reflects.

At the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Hendon is working with a team (mechanical engineering Prof. Kristin Myers and Dr. Mourad, co-director of Columbia's Preterm Birth Prevention Center) to develop a device  that could mitigate preterm birth by adding light therapeutics to remodel the cervix.