Postgrad Spotlight

5 Jan 2026

The School of Physics would like to highlight the work of Postgraduate Student Francesca Cali.

"I'm really enjoying my time here in Tyndall. My research group is incredibly supportive and provides lots of opportunities to collaborate with other researchers. The work can be really challenging at times, but it is exciting to be part of this research and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes."

Francesca Calì received her BSc in Mathematics and Experimental Physics from Maynooth University in 2023. She is currently a second-year PhD researcher affiliated with the School of Physics at University College Cork and based in the Biophotonics group at the Tyndall National Institute. Her research is supervised by Dr Baptiste Jayet (Tyndall) and Professor Stefan Andersson-Engels (UCC Physics / Tyndall).

Biophotonics is an interdisciplinary research area that explores how visible and near-infrared (NIR) light interacts with biological tissue, with important applications in healthcare and medicine. A key challenge in this field is the highly scattering nature of biological tissue, which limits how deeply light can penetrate and prevents it from forming a well-defined focus.

Francesca’s research investigates how this challenge can be addressed using a technique known as wavefront shaping. By precisely controlling the incident light wavefront, this approach enables light to be guided through scattering tissue and focused inside or beyond it. Advancing the ability to focus visible and NIR light within biological tissue could support the development of next-generation biomedical technologies, including advanced imaging techniques, optogenetics, and photo-activated drug delivery.