Michael W. Berns

Michael W. Berns (born December 1, 1942) is a professor of surgery and cell biology at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and the University of California, San Diego. Berns is a founder of the first Laser Microbeam Program (LAMP), the Beckman Laser Institute, the UCI Center for Biomedical Engineering, and the UCI Photonics Incubator.
His pioneering work has focused on the use of laser technology in medical and biological research. He has developed tools and techniques for the surgical use of lasers, down to the level of manipulating single cells and individual chromosomes. Berns has published extensively on use of lasers in both biomedical research and medical treatment of illnesses including skin disorders, vascular disease, eye problems, and cancer.
Education.
Berns received his B.S. from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY in 1964, followed by his M.S. in 1966 and his Ph.D. in 1968. From 1968 to 1970, he held a postdoctoral position at the Pasadena Foundation for Medical Research, Pasadena, California.
Career.
Berns was an assistant professor in the department of zoology of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor from 1970 to 1972. He them joined the University of California, Irvine (UCI) as an associate professor and department chair in the Department of Developmental and Cell Biology. He was named the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Professor in 1988. 
In addition to a number of appointments at the University of California, Irvine, he became an adjunct professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, San Diego in 2000.
Berns founded the first Laser Microbeam Program (LAMP) at UCI in 1979.
Sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a National Biotechnology Resource, the LAMP center's sophisticated laser microsurgery instruments could be used by cell biologists from across the country.
Berns co-founded the Beckman Laser Institute at UCI in 1982, with support from Arnold Beckman. The nonprofit institute for translational research opened on June 4, 1986. Berns was its first director, serving from 1982 to 2003.
Berns was also a founding director of the UCI Center for Biomedical Engineering, from 1999 to 2000, and founded the UCI Photonics Incubator in 1999.
Research.
In 2006, Berns received the Biomedical Optics Lifetime Achievement Award at SPIE's International Symposium on Biomedical Optics, “for his contributions to the development and growth of laser microbeam technology, a major step towards establishing new tools for understanding laser interactions with biological tissues, which have resulted in significant improvements in diagnosis and treatment of disease.” Sometimes referred to as the "father of laser microbeams," Berns has written over 480 articles and 6 books.
In 1969, Berns published a generative paper on use of lasers for subcellular surgery in "Nature". Using an argon laser with a phase-contrast microscope, small lesions were placed at specifically chosen sites on the chromosomes of cells sensitized with chemical fluorophores.
In subsequent research, Berns and others found that could be used to cut organelles such as mitochondria or stress fibers without prior sensitization. This landmark study concluded that focusable laser light could have wide application to the ablation of cell components in biological systems. When combined with a light microscope to display the structures in a living cell, lasers could be used to selectively target those structures with minimum damage to surrounding structures.
Since then Berns has investigated the basic interactions of light beams at the levels of tissues, cells, and molecules. He has developed tools and techniques such as "laser scissors" and "laser tweezers" for manipulation of structures within a living cell, that can be used for the examination of cell biology and treatment of molecular pathology.
Awards and honors.
Honors and awards include the following: 