Biomedical imaging in the undergraduate physics curriculum: Module on optical microscopy

Abstract

We recently developed an undergraduate course in which biomedical imaging serves as a foundation for integrating physics with material relevant to students majoring in physics and the life sciences. Our course is taught using a mix of lecture- and laboratory-based pedagogical approaches and deals extensively with optical microscopy, due to its importance in applied physics and the life sciences, as well as with techniques like magnetic resonance imaging. Here we give an overview of the course, emphasizing the content of our microscopy module, and describe specific laboratory exercises.