Speakers - CRDWC 2025

Biography

Dr. Frederick H. Silver is a Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. He did his Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering at M.I.T. with Dr. Ioannis Yannas, the inventor of the Integra artificial skin, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in Developmental Medicine at Mass General Hospital in Boston, MA with Dr. Robert L. Trelstad, a connective tissue pathologist. Dr. Silver invented in his lab at Rutgers a new technique termed vibrational optical coherence tomography (VOCT). US and European patents have been granted on VOCT to Rutgers on vibrational evaluation of materials and tissues. The issued patent has been licensed to OptoVibronex, LLC. a startup company co-founded by Dr. Silver and Lisa Silver. This technology can be used to provide a non-invasive “virtual biopsy” of tissues including skin cancers and ocular tissues. This technology can be used with telemedicine to provide images and quantitative mechanovibrational data that along with AI can be used to remotely provide information used in making personalized medical diagnoses. His interests include applying new engineering techniques that can be used to assess the structure and properties of extracellular matrix in health and disease and the role of mechanobiology in tissue mechanical homeostasis. A breakthrough device designation has been issued by the US FDA to OptoVibronex to facilitate the approval process and to assist the Dermatologist to identify the margins and depth of skin lesions noninvasively. Dr. Silver has published over 250 peer reviewed scientific papers, 4 textbooks on biomaterials and biomedical engineering, and has over 20 patents issued and pending. He has taught biomedical engineering students at Boston University, University of Minnesota, and Rutgers for over 40 years. He is a section editor for Biomaterials for the MDPI Journal Biomolecules.