I am a biomedical engineer, postdoctoral researcher, at National Eye Institute, NIH, advised by Dr. Stanislav Tomarev. Before joining NIH, I received my Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering at Brown University, advised by Prof. Jonghwan Lee. I am specializing in minimally invasive neurotechnologies for vision restoration, neural protection, and neural regeneration. My work integrates nanotechnology, neurobiology, and optical stimulation to develop minimally invasive retinal prosthetics and neuroprotective strategies for eye diseases.
Open Positions
I welcome inquiries from postbac researchers and graduate students from diverse background interested in NIH training programs and in joining Dr. Tomarev’s lab. Prospective candidates are encouraged to explore NIH opportunities such as the Postbac IRTA, Summer Internship Program, and Graduate Partnerships Program (GPP).
Research Overview
News
- [Oct. 2025] Our research podcast on The Academic Minute is on the air today.
- [Sep. 2025] I was invited to give a talk at NESBO 2025 at MIT. See you in Boston!
- [May. 2025] Our paper on systemic toxicity of plasmonic retinal prosthesis was published!
- [May. 2025] Excited to be interviewed by the Boston Globe on behalf of my co-authors about our work on plasmonic retinal prosthesis.
- [Apr. 2025] Our paper on plasmonic retinal prosthesis was featured in Neuroscience News, Science Alert, Optics.org, and more.
- [Mar. 2025] Our paper was accepted in ACS Nano.
Publications
Intravitreally Injected Plasmonic Nanorods Activate Bipolar Cells with Patterned Near-Infrared Laser Projection
J Nie*, K Eom*, HM Alghosain, A Neifert, A Cherian, G-M Gerbaka, KY Ma, T Liu, J Lee†
ACS Nano 2025, 19, 12, 11823–11840
Featured in the Brown, Boston Globe, Neuroscience News, Science Alert, NIH, Retinal Physician, Popular Mechanics, Optics.org, ReachMD, Futurism, and others.
The systemic toxicity of intravitreally injected gold nanorods in mice: Effects of size, surface conjugation, and post-injection period
HM AlGhosain, J Nie, T Liu, J Lee†
Toxicological Research (May 2025)
Investigating the correlation between early vascular alterations and cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s disease in mice with SD-OCT
J-H Lee, S Stefan, K Walek, J Nie, K Min, TD Yang, J Lee†
Biomedical Optics Express 14(4), 1494 (Mar 2023)
Design and demonstration of ultrafast holographic microscopic system based on time stretching
Y Chen, F Xing†, S Ge, J Nie, N Sun, Z Ma, J Lee
Optics Communications 514, 128153 (Jul 2022)
Simultaneously reconfigurable multispectral microscopic imaging based on a digital micromirror device
F Xing, S Ge, Y Wang†, J Nie, Y Di, Z Gan, C Liu, J Lee
IEEE Photonics Technology Letters 34 (8), 417-419
Micron-resolution high-performance line field optical coherence tomography and its application
N Sun, F Xing†, J Nie, Y Di, C Liu, Z Gan†, J Lee
Optical Engineering 61(3), 033102 (Mar 2022)
Caffeic acid phenethyl ester (propolis extract) ameliorates insulin resistance by inhibiting JNK and NF-κB inflammatory pathways in diabetic mice and HepG2 cell models
J. Nie, Y. Chang†, Y. Li, Y. Zhou, J. Qin, Z. Sun, H. Li.
J. Agric. Food Chem. 2017, 65, 41, 9041–9053
100+ cited
Jiarui Nie 