Stéphane Bancelin

I am a researcher in nonlinear and super-resolution optical microscopy at the Laboratoire Photonique, Numérique et Nanosciences (LP2N) in Talence, France. I build advanced imaging methods to look at biological tissues with as much detail — and as little perturbation — as possible.

Second-harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy is at the core of my research. I use it to image and quantify the organization of collagen in tissues such as cornea, skin, vocal folds and tendon, linking optical signals to fibrillar structure and biomechanics.

I later worked on super-resolution STED imaging in the living mouse brain, developing instrumentation and analysis tools — from aberration correction and PSF characterization to real-time acquisition workflows — to study neuronal structures such as dendritic spines in their native environment.

I have since returned to label-free imaging, combining SHG, Raman and Brillouin microscopy. Separately, I am developing two- and three-photon fluorescence imaging of carbon nanotubes.

At the interface of photonics, optical instrumentation and quantitative image analysis, I enjoy turning physical measurements into biological insight, and developing the software that makes these experiments reproducible.