Investigator: Martin Villiger, PhD

Email: mvilliger@mgh.harvard.edu
Lab: Bouma, Brett

Dr Villiger has extensive experience in biophotonics and optical coherence tomography (OCT), with a solid understanding of the physics underlying optical imaging and detailed appreciation of the multidisciplinary challenges involved in developing and translating biomedical imaging technology. His recent focus has been on exploring polarization properties of tissues with catheter-based and endoscopic imaging modalities.


Dr Villiger earned his PhD from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, one of two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology in Photonics in 2010 and has been at the Welman Center since then.

Publications

  • Lee PY, Chueh CB, Shishkov M, Wang TA, Chen T, Bouma BE, Villiger M

    Polarization-Sensitive Module for Optical Coherence Tomography Instruments. ArXiv. 2025;:ePub - PMID: 41293538 - PMCID: PMC12642765

  • Masoumi S, Sheft M, Quémener M, Bédard A, Noël VP, Parent M, Villiger M, Côté DC

    Catheter-based polarimetric imaging to complement MRI for deep brain stimulation neurosurgery. Neurophotonics. 2025;12(3):035001 - PMID: 40735541 - PMCID: PMC12301623 - DOI: 10.1117/1.NPh.12.3.035001

  • Liu CJ, Ammon W, Jones RJ, Nolan JC, Gong D, Maffei C, Blanke N, Edlow BL, Augustinack JC, Magnain C, Yendiki A, Villiger M, Fischl B, Wang H

    Three-dimensional fiber orientation mapping of ex vivo human brain at micrometer resolution. Npj Imaging. 2025;3(1):13 - PMID: 40213097 - PMCID: PMC11978517 - DOI: 10.1038/s44303-025-00074-2

  • Manuel LDB, Basu D, Rollins MB, Vincely VD, Keahey P, Villiger M, Bayer CL, South PF, McPeak KM

    Au Bipyramids as NIR-II Contrast Agents for In Vivo Plant Imaging. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2025;17(35):49183-49192 - PMID: 40838762 - PMCID: PMC12412101 - DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5c08908

  • Salimi M, Tabatabaei N, Villiger M

    Artificial neural network for enhancing signal-to-noise ratio and contrast in photothermal optical coherence tomography. Sci Rep. 2024;14(1):10264 - PMID: 38704427 - PMCID: PMC11069506 - DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-60682-7

  • Mansutti G, Villiger M, Bouma BE, Uribe-Patarroyo N

    Full-field amplitude speckle decorrelation angiography. Biomed Opt Express. 2024;15(10):5756-5772 - PMID: 39421771 - PMCID: PMC11482163 - DOI: 10.1364/BOE.530993

  • Ruiz-Lopera S, Restrepo R, Cannon TM, Villiger M, Bouma BE, Uribe-Patarroyo N

    Computational refocusing in phase-unstable polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography. Opt Lett. 2023;48(18):4765-4768 - PMID: 37707897 - PMCID: PMC10871002 - DOI: 10.1364/OL.499051

  • Liu X, Jiang L, Ke M, Sigal IA, Chua J, Hoang QV, Chia AW, Najjar RP, Tan B, Cheong J, Bellemo V, Chong RS, Girard MJA, Ang M, Liu M, Garhöfer G, Barathi VA, Saw SM, Villiger M, Schmetterer L

    Posterior scleral birefringence measured by triple-input polarization-sensitive imaging as a biomarker of myopia progression. Nat Biomed Eng. 2023;7(8):986-1000 - PMID: 37365268 - PMCID: PMC10427432 - DOI: 10.1038/s41551-023-01062-w

  • Lee SY, Parot VJ, Bouma BE, Villiger M

    Efficient dispersion modeling in optical multimode fiber. Light Sci Appl. 2023;12(1):31 - PMID: 36720851 - PMCID: PMC9889807 - DOI: 10.1038/s41377-022-01061-7

  • Jones GL, Xiong Q, Liu X, Bouma BE, Villiger M

    Single-input polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography through a catheter. Biomed Opt Express. 2023;14(9):4609-4626 - PMID: 37791262 - PMCID: PMC10545192 - DOI: 10.1364/BOE.497123

  • Nandy S, Berigei SR, Keyes CM, Muniappan A, Auchincloss HG, Lanuti M, Roop BW, Shih AR, Colby TV, Medoff BD, Suter MJ, Villiger M, Hariri LP

    Polarization-Sensitive Endobronchial Optical Coherence Tomography for Microscopic Imaging of Fibrosis in Interstitial Lung Disease. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2022;206(7):905-910 - PMID: 35675552 - PMCID: PMC12042782 - DOI: 10.1164/rccm.202112-2832LE

  • Lee SY, Parot VJ, Bouma BE, Villiger M

    Confocal 3D reflectance imaging through multimode fiber without wavefront shaping. Optica. 2022;9(1):112-120 - PMID: 35419464 - PMCID: PMC9005109 - DOI: 10.1364/OPTICA.446178

  • DePaoli D, Côté DC, Bouma BE, Villiger M

    Endoscopic imaging of white matter fiber tracts using polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography. Neuroimage. 2022;264:119755 - PMID: 36400379 - PMCID: PMC9802682 - DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119755

  • Cannon TM, Uribe-Patarroyo N, Villiger M, Bouma BE

    Measuring collagen injury depth for burn severity determination using polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography. Sci Rep. 2022;12(1):10479 - PMID: 35729262 - PMCID: PMC9213509 - DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-14326-3

  • van Zandvoort LJC, Otsuka K, Villiger M, Neleman T, Dijkstra J, Zijlstra F, van Mieghem NM, Bouma BE, Daemen J

    Polarimetric Signatures of Coronary Thrombus in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndrome. Circ J. 2021;85(10):1806-1813 - PMID: 33828020 - PMCID: PMC10782573 - DOI: 10.1253/circj.CJ-20-0862

  • Salimi MH, Villiger M, Tabatabaei N

    Transient-mode photothermal optical coherence tomography. Opt Lett. 2021;46(22):5703-5706 - PMID: 34780441 - PMCID: PMC10801791 - DOI: 10.1364/OL.443987

  • Ren J, Shishkov M, Villiger ML, Otsuka K, Nadkarni SK, Bouma BE

    Single-catheter dual-modality intravascular imaging combining IVUS and OFDI: a holistic structural visualisation of coronary arteries. EuroIntervention. 2021;17(11):e919-e922 - PMID: 34219665 - PMCID: PMC8649034 - DOI: 10.4244/EIJ-D-20-00990

  • Nandy S, Helland TL, Roop BW, Raphaely RA, Ly A, Lew M, Berigei SR, Villiger M, Sorokina A, Szabari MV, Fintelmann FJ, Suter MJ, Hariri LP

    Rapid non-destructive volumetric tumor yield assessment in fresh lung core needle biopsies using polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography. Biomed Opt Express. 2021;12(9):5597-5613 - PMID: 34692203 - PMCID: PMC8515979 - DOI: 10.1364/BOE.433346

  • Keahey P, Si P, Razavi M, Yu S, Lippok N, Villiger M, Padera TP, de la Zerda A, Bouma B

    Spectral- and Polarization-Dependent Scattering of Gold Nanobipyramids for Exogenous Contrast in Optical Coherence Tomography. Nano Lett. 2021;21(20):8595-8601 - PMID: 34644094 - PMCID: PMC8555503 - DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02291

  • Otsuka K, Villiger M, van Zandvoort LJC, Neleman T, Karanasos A, Dijkstra J, van Soest G, Regar E, Nadkarni SK, Daemen J, Bouma BE

    Polarimetric Signatures of Vascular Tissue Response to Drug-Eluting Stent Implantation in Patients. JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2020;13(12):2695-2696 - PMID: 32828773 - PMCID: PMC7736522 - DOI: 10.1016/j.jcmg.2020.07.009

  • Li Q, Karnowski K, Untracht G, Noble PB, Cense B, Villiger M, Sampson DD

    Vectorial birefringence imaging by optical coherence microscopy for assessing fibrillar microstructures in the cornea and limbus. Biomed Opt Express. 2020;11(2):1122-1138 - PMID: 32206403 - PMCID: PMC7041478 - DOI: 10.1364/BOE.382755

  • Lee SY, Parot VJ, Bouma BE, Villiger M

    Reciprocity-induced symmetry in the round-trip transmission through complex systems. APL Photonics. 2020;5(10):ePub - PMID: 33088915 - PMCID: PMC7575207 - DOI: 10.1063/5.0021285

  • Lee H, Kim GH, Villiger M, Jang H, Bouma BE, Kim CS

    Linear-in-wavenumber actively-mode-locked wavelength-swept laser. Opt Lett. 2020;45(19):5327-5330 - PMID: 33001885 - PMCID: PMC7574329 - DOI: 10.1364/OL.397715

  • Lee SY, Hui PC, Bouma B, Villiger M

    Single-shot depth profiling by spatio-temporal encoding with a multimode fiber. Opt Express. 2020;28(2):1124-1138 - PMID: 32121828 - PMCID: PMC7053500 - DOI: 10.1364/OE.383145

  • Keahey PA, Bouma BE, Villiger M

    Automated noise estimation in polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography. Opt Lett. 2020;45(10):2748-2751 - PMID: 32412457 - PMCID: PMC7506521 - DOI: 10.1364/OL.390334

  • Beretta-Piccoli M, Cescon C, Barbero M, Villiger M, Clijsen R, Kool J, Kesselring J, Bansi J

    Upper and lower limb performance fatigability in people with multiple sclerosis investigated through surface electromyography: a pilot study. Physiol Meas. 2020;41(2):025002 - PMID: 31972554 - DOI: 10.1088/1361-6579/ab6f54

  • Xiong Q, Wang N, Liu X, Chen S, Braganza CS, Bouma BE, Liu L, Villiger M

    Constrained polarization evolution simplifies depth-resolved retardation measurements with polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography. Biomed Opt Express. 2019;10(10):5207-5222 - PMID: 31646042 - PMCID: PMC6788597 - DOI: 10.1364/BOE.10.005207

  • Walther J, Li Q, Villiger M, Farah CS, Koch E, Karnowski K, Sampson DD

    Depth-resolved birefringence imaging of collagen fiber organization in the human oral mucosa in vivo. Biomed Opt Express. 2019;10(4):1942-1956 - PMID: 31086712 - PMCID: PMC6484997 - DOI: 10.1364/BOE.10.001942

  • Lo WCY, Uribe-Patarroyo N, Hoebel K, Beaudette K, Villiger M, Nishioka NS, Vakoc BJ, Bouma BE

    Balloon catheter-based radiofrequency ablation monitoring in porcine esophagus using optical coherence tomography. Biomed Opt Express. 2019;10(4):2067-2089 - PMID: 31086717 - PMCID: PMC6484999 - DOI: 10.1364/BOE.10.002067

  • Hariri LP, Adams DC, Applegate MB, Miller AJ, Roop BW, Villiger M, Bouma BE, Suter MJ

    Distinguishing Tumor from Associated Fibrosis to Increase Diagnostic Biopsy Yield with Polarization-Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography. Clin Cancer Res. 2019;25(17):5242-5249 - PMID: 31175092 - PMCID: PMC6726561 - DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-19-0566

  • Otsuka K, Villiger M, Karanasos A, van Zandvoort LJC, Doradla P, Ren J, Lippok N, Daemen J, Diletti R, van Geuns RJ, Zijlstra F, van Soest G, Dijkstra J, Nadkarni SK, Regar E, Bouma BE

    Intravascular Polarimetry in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease. JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2019;13(3):790-801 - PMID: 31422135 - PMCID: PMC7241775 - DOI: 10.1016/j.jcmg.2019.06.015

  • Doradla P, Otsuka K, Nadkarni A, Villiger M, Karanasos A, Zandvoort LJCV, Dijkstra J, Zijlstra F, Soest GV, Daemen J, Regar E, Bouma BE, Nadkarni SK

    Biomechanical Stress Profiling of Coronary Atherosclerosis: Identifying a Multifactorial Metric to Evaluate Plaque Rupture Risk. JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2019;13(3):804-816 - PMID: 31005542 - PMCID: PMC9919872 - DOI: 10.1016/j.jcmg.2019.01.033

  • Lippok N, Braaf B, Villiger M, Oh WY, Vakoc BJ, Bouma BE

    Quantitative depolarization measurements for fiber-based polarization-sensitive optical frequency domain imaging of the retinal pigment epithelium. J Biophotonics. 2018;12(1):e201800156 - PMID: 30009506 - PMCID: PMC6526942 - DOI: 10.1002/jbio.201800156