Jeeseong Hwang is a research biophysicist in the Applied Physics Division in the Physical Measurement Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). His work at NIST began in 1994 with an award for a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship to study near-field optical scanning probe microscopy of nanoscale biomimetic materials and structures. Before coming to NIST, he was a research scientist in an immunology laboratory at the biology department of the Johns Hopkins University, investigating biophysical aspects of immune response of human cells using super-resolution near-field scanning optical microscopy and other laser-based optical imaging techniques in collaboration with AT&T Bell Laboratories. His Ph.D. thesis work at the physics department of Michigan State University was on scanning probe microscopy of nanoscale quantum structures and metal surfaces.
His research in the Molecular and BioPhotonics Project focuses on optics and nanobiophotonics for optical medical imaging and quantitative biophysics, involving development and application of the following areas: (1) multimodal molecular imaging techniques; (2) the development of phantoms for optical medical imaging; (3) bio-inspired assembly of nanoscale building blocks for optical bio-sensors; and (4) quantitative image analysis software.
Recent contributions to professional societies include serving on the committee for the 'Quality and Reliability of Biomedical Devices' program at annual SPIE BiOS Conference since 2006. He received a NIST/Department of Commerce Silver Medal for "the development of an innovative nanotechnology tool for the highly sensitive and selective optical detections of bacterial pathogens" in 2008. He has authored 90 technical papers, delivered 57 invited talks, and holds six U.S. Patents.