PhD Student Michal Katan Wins Young Investigator Award

Congratulations to PhD student Michal Katan, for winning the Young Investigator Award at the international Photonics West 2025 conference, which is sponsored by SPIE. Michal, an electrical engineering doctoral student at Prof. Dror Fixler’s group, is developing an optical sensor for measuring physiological parameters such as heart pulse, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, and others. “The sensor is based on a unique physical phenomenon we have discovered at the lab. We found that by measuring the tissue at a specific location, we can achieve self-calibration,” she explains. “This phenomenon, which we have called the Iso-pathlength point, solves significant challenges in the field, particularly the calibration problem: different people have different skin colors and tissues, forcing traditional optical sensors to be calibrated according a large number of subjects, which leads to an inherent error. Our sensor, however, relies on self-calibration, thereby allowing for more accurate measurements.”

Michal began working on her research at Prof. Fixler’s lab during her master’s studies and is currently pursuing it further as part of her PhD studies. In January 2025, she presented her research to leading researchers in the field, both as a lecture and through a poster at the annual Photonics West conference in the United States. Her presentation has awarded her the Young Investigator Award, courtesy of PRIZMATIX, which is a company specializing in the manufacturing of optical components. “Winning this award was extremely exciting, and I truly enjoyed witnessing the scientific community’s interest and receiving their recognition,” she says.