Daniel Palanker

Administrative Appointments

• Director of Research, Department of Ophthalmology (2003 - present)
• Faculty Member, Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory (2000 - present)

Honors and Awards

• Medical Design Excellence Award for development of the Pulsed Electron Avalanche Knife (PEAK), Medical Design Excellence Awards; Canon Communications (February 2009)
• R&D 100 Award for the Pattern Scanning Laser Photocoagulator (PASCAL). with OptiMedica Inc., R&D Journal (July 1, 2007)
• Pascal Rol award for the best paper on Ophthalmic Technologies Conference (SPIE, Photonics West), SPIE (January, 2004)
• Winner of the Collegiate Inventors Competition, US National Inventors Hall of Fame (2001)
• First Place in Instrumentation and Devices: Plasma-based Cutting Instrument for Vitreoret. Surgery, US Vitreous Society (2000)

Professional Education

Postdoctoral Advisees

Daniel Lavinsky,  James Loudin,  Yosef Mandel

Internet Links

• Palanker Lab Home Page

Industry Relationships

Stanford is committed to ethical and transparent interactions with our industrial and other commercial partners. It is our policy to disclose payments (exclusive of travel support) from, and/or equity in, companies or other commercial entities to Stanford faculty of $5,000 or more in total value, as well as any equity in a privately held company, when the faculty member also has institutional responsibilities related to his or her interactions with the company. View Full Information

Current Research Interests

Mechanisms of interaction of electric field and light with biological cells and tissues and their applications to diagnostics, therapeutics and prosthetics.

Specific fields of interest include:
Minimally-invasive optical and electrical therapeutic technologies;
Interface of electronics with neural cells and tissues;
Microsurgical and cell-surgical technologies;
Optical imaging and spectroscopy;
Electronic control of cells and tissues.

Current research projects include:

1) Laser-Tissue Interactions: Effects of pulsed hyperthermia on cells and tissues; selective and computer-guided ocular laser therapies. Multiphoton interactions and their applications to laser surgery.

2) Electronic Retinal Prosthesis:
Optoelectronic system for restoration of sight to the blind patients suffering from degenerative retinal diseases.

3) Pulsed Electron Avalanche Knife:
Tractionless cutting, ablating and hemostatic tool with cellular precision, based on plasma-mediated microscecond electrical discharges applied via micrometers-thin insulated electrodes.

4) Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering Microscopy (CARS):
Imaging of biological cells and tissues utilizing their intrinsic vibrational molecular contrast in a non-scanning wide-field approach.

Publications

• Femtosecond laser capsulotomy. Friedman NJ, Palanker DV, Schuele G, Andersen D, Marcellino G, Seibel BS, Batlle J, Feliz R, Talamo JH, Blumenkranz MS, Culbertson WW. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2011; 37 (7): 1189-98
• Impact of Pulse Duration and Burn Grade on Size of Retinal Photocoagulation Lesion: Implications for Pattern Density. D. Palanker, D. Lavinsky, M.S. Blumenkranz, G. Marcellino.. RETINA. 2011
• Improving the therapeutic window of retinal photocoagulation by spatial and temporal modulation of the laser beam. Sramek C, Leung LS, Leng T, Brown J, Paulus YM, Schuele G, Palanker D. J Biomed Opt. 2011; 16 (2): 028004
• New Horizons in Retinal Laser Treatment: Sublethal Laser Therapy. Y. M. Paulus, C. Sramek, M.S. Blumenkranz, D. Palanker. Retinal Physician. 2011
• Non-damaging retinal phototherapy: dynamic range of heat shock protein expression. Sramek C, Mackanos M, Spitler R, Leung LS, Nomoto H, Contag CH, Palanker D. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2011; 52 (3): 1780-7