University Of Texas Southwestern Medical Cent (The
Location
Dallas, TX
Job Type
UTSW-Taleo-External
Specialty
Research & Laboratory
Posted
2026-09-04
Applications close
2026-10-11
Job ID
23767000
Description
Research Scientist, Biomedical Optics, SWIR Imaging, and Burn
Wound Assessment, Levi LabWHY UT SOUTHWESTERN?With over 75 years of excellence in Dallas
Fort Worth, Texas, UT Southwestern is committed to excellence, innovation, teamwork, and compassion. As a world-renowned medical and research center, we strive to provide the best possible care, resources, and benefits for our valued employees. Ranked as the number 1 hospital in Dallas
Fort Worth according to U.S. News & World Report, we invest in you with opportunities for career growth and development to align with your future goals. Our highly competitive benefits package offers healthcare, PTO and paid holidays, on-site childcare, wage, merit increases and so much more. We invite you to be a part of the UT Southwestern team where you'll discover a culture of teamwork, professionalism, and a rewarding career! JOB SUMMARYPlans, coordinates, directs, and participates in work of smaller research project or major unit of large research project in field of specialization for which incumbent is particularly qualified in terms of extensive training and/or experience. The Levi Laboratory seeks a Research Scientist to lead the development and translational application of optical imaging technologies for objective assessment of skin viability, burn-wound depth, tissue composition, and healing. The laboratory integrates visible, near-infrared (NIR), and short-wave infrared (SWIR) imaging with porcine injury models, human clinical studies, quantitative histology, biostatistics, and machine learning.The successful candidate will design, build, calibrate, operate, and refine multispectral imaging systems; acquire high-quality images in laboratory, animal, operating-room, and clinical environments; develop reproducible image-processing and classification pipelines; and correlate optical measurements with histopathology and clinical assessments. The position requires the ability to bridge optical engineering, tissue optics, image analysis, experimental biology, and clinical translation. A commitment of at least two years is preferred.RESEARCH PROGRAMMultispectral SWIR reflectance imaging of burn wounds using the laboratory's SWIR assessment platform and bands centered near 1200, 1650, 1940, and 2250 nm for sensitivity to water, lipids, collagen, and tissue scattering.Objective differentiation of superficial, deep partial-thickness, and full-thickness burns, including identification of wounds likely to require operative debridement or grafting.Translation of a SWIR assessment platform from tissue phantoms and porcine burn models to imaging of human patients in the operating room.Co-registration of visible, multispectral optical, histologic, and clinical data to establish reliable biological and clinical ground truth.Development of reflectance indices, quantitative optical-property maps, statistical classifiers, and machine-learning models for tissue viability and burn-depth prediction.Expansion toward hyperspectral imaging, spatial frequency domain imaging, tissue spectroscopy, fluorescence imaging, and other emerging SWIR biomedical technologies when scientifically appropriate.ESSENTIAL JOB DUTIESDesign, assemble, align, and maintain visible, NIR, multispectral SWIR, or hyperspectral imaging systems using broadband or wavelength-specific sources, diffusers, collimators, dichroic optics, bandpass filters, filter wheels, lenses, apertures, spectrometers, and silicon, germanium, or InGaAs detectors.Select wavelengths, optical components, acquisition geometry, exposure or integration times, gain, working distance, field of view, spatial resolution, and illumination parameters based on tissue optical properties and the intended biological measurement.Calibrate imaging systems using reflectance standards, dark and white references, tissue-simulating phantoms, and wavelength-appropriate correction procedures; characterize illumination uniformity, detector response, noise, repeatability, drift, and signal-to-noise ratio.Develop and execute standardized imaging protocols for tissue phantoms, ex vivo samples, in vivo porcine burn models, and human burn patients, including operating-room workflows that maintain safety, sterility, patient privacy, and minimal disruption to clinical care.Acquire synchronized visible and SWIR images or videos and accurately document image settings, subject positioning, anatomical location, burn timing, treatment status, calibration data, and relevant environmental variables.Perform image preprocessing, including bad-pixel and dark-current correction, flat-field or reference normalization, frame averaging, denoising, motion correction, distortion correction, image registration, segmentation, and quality-control review.Define and track anatomically matched regions of interest across visible images, SWIR wavelength bands, serial time points, surgical markings, biopsies, and histologic sections.Quantify wavelength-specific and normalized reflectance, spectral ratios or indices, absorption and reduced-scattering parameters, water and lipid sensitivity, spatial heterogeneity, and temporal changes in injured tissue.Develop and validate statistical and machine-learning approaches for burn-depth classification and treatment-decision support, including feature engineering, training and test separation, cross-validation, receiver operating characteristic analysis, sensitivity, specificity, calibration, uncertainty, and subgroup performance.Correlate optical measurements with surgeon assessments, operative findings, healing outcomes, and pathology-based burn-depth measurements while explicitly evaluating interobserver disagreement and limitations of each reference standard. Coordinate tissue collection and histology workflows, including biopsy localization, fixation, paraffin embedding, sectioning, H&E, trichrome and picrosirius red staining, whole-slide scanning, collagen-coagulation or necrosis-depth measurement, and quantitative image analysis.Perform or supervise porcine research procedures relevant to burn creation, imaging, longitudinal monitoring, tissue collection, and protocol compliance in collaboration with veterinary and surgical personnel.Write and maintain standard operating procedures, equipment logs, calibration records, code repositories, data dictionaries, and analysis documentation sufficient for reproducibility and future regulatory or device-development activities.Troubleshoot optical, mechanical, electronic, software, synchronization, and data-quality problems; perform root-cause analysis and implement durable corrective actions.Prepare publication-quality figures, manuscripts, abstracts, presentations, technical reports, grant applications, and progress reports; present work at laboratory meetings and national or international conferences.Collaborate with burn surgeons, pathologists, optical engineers, physicists, biomedical engineers, statisticians, computer scientists, industry partners, and regulatory or technology-transfer teams.Train and supervise junior laboratory personnel in optical-system operation, imaging protocols, image analysis, experimental rigor, safety, and data stewardship.STRONGLY PREFERRED EXPERTISEAdvanced training or experience in biomedical optics, optical engineering, biophotonics, spectroscopy, imaging science, biomedical engineering, physics, electrical engineering, computer vision, or a closely related field.Hands-on experience designing and operating optical imaging or spectroscopy systems, preferably involving SWIR, NIR, multispectral, hyperspectral, or spatial frequency domain imaging.Knowledge of light-tissue interactions, including wavelength-dependent absorption, scattering, penetration depth, and contrast from water, lipids, collagen, hemoglobin, and melanin.Proficiency in MATLAB and Python for image processing, quantitative analysis, data visualization, statistical modeling, automation, and reproducible pipeline development.Experience with camera c
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