Kirill Larin

Chair
Cullen Endowed Chair and Professor

Office Location SERC 2027

Phone 832-842-8834

Email klarin [at] uh.edu

Dr. Kirill Larin is the Cullen Endowed Chair and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Houston. He received an M.S. in Laser Physics and Mathematics from Saratov State University in 1995, an M.S. in Cellular Physiology and Molecular Biophysics from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in 2001, and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences and Biomedical Engineering from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in 2002. Before joining UH in 2004, Larin completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Biomedical Engineering and Optics at UT-Galveston. He is the recipient of the prestigious Presidential Award from Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Larin was inducted as a Fellow of SPIE in 2015, a Fellow of Optica in 2016, and a Fellow of AIMBE in 2020. He is the 2025 recipient of the SPIE Biophotonics Technology Innovator Award.

Education

Ph.D., University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston

Courses

Biothermodynamics (BIOE 3341)

Intro to Biophotonics (BIOE 4397/6347 and PHOP 637)

Awards and Honors

2025 Biophotonics Technology Innovator Award

2023 Hot Topics Speaker at SPIE Photonics West (San Francisco, February 2023) and European Conferences on Biomedical Optics (Munich, June 2023)

2022, 23 The Most Productive Faculty of the Year Award, University of Houston

2022 Outstanding Undergraduate Student Research Mentor Award, University of Houston

2020 Cullen College of Engineering Faculty Excellence Award

2020 Cullen College of Engineering Professor

2020 Fellow, AIMBE

2016 Excellence in Research and Scholarship Award, University of Houston

2016 Fellow, OSA

2015 Fellow, SPIE

2015 Gledden Visiting Fellowship (The University of Western Australia)

2013 Excellence in Research and Scholarship award, University of Houston

2011 Elected to SPIE Senior Membership

2010 CCE Junior Faculty Research Award, University of Houston

2008 Short Course Instructor “Tissue Optics and Optical Coherence Tomography” at OSA and CLEO

2008 Herbert Allen Award (American Society of Mechanical Engineering)

2008 Outstanding Young Scientist Award (HSEMB)

2007 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award

2006 Coulter Foundation Young Investigator Award

2002 Mason Guest Award (University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX)

1997 Yeltsin Presidential award for young scientists (Boris Yeltsin, Moscow, Russia)

1995 Diploma with Honors, Summa cum laude (Saratov State University, Russia)

1996, 97 Graduate student educational grant (International Soros Educational Program)

1995 Student educational grant (International Soros Student Educational Program)

Research Interests

Larin’s research contributions are in Biomedical Optics and Biophotonics, and in the development and application of various optical methods for noninvasive, nondestructive imaging and diagnostics of tissues and cells. He made significant contributions to the development of optical imaging methods for studying developmental processes and advanced the field of Optical Elastography.

Selected Publications

Nikitin PV, Chawla HS, Gutierrez J, Madamanchi G, Singh M, Aglyamov SR, Wu M, Alonso J, Fronheiser M, Coculo J, Du S, Assassi S, Larin KV. ALK5 inhibitor impact on bleomycin-induced systemic sclerosis mouse model via multifunctional optical coherence tomography. APL Bioengineering 2025;9(4).
Zevallos-Delgado C, Mekonnen T, Schill AW, Singh M, Aglyamov S, Larin KV. Air-coupled ultrasound based noncontact reverberant optical coherence elastography. Light: Advanced Manufacturing 2025;6(76).
Singh A, Singh M, Aglyamov S, Mayerich D, Larin K. Quantifying age and spatial variations of bone marrow elasticity with noncontact optical coherence elastography. Journal of Biomedical Optics 2025;30(12):124505.
Singh M, Hepburn MS, Kennedy BF, Larin KV. Optical coherence elastography. Nature Reviews Methods Primers 2025;5(1):39.
Aglyamov S, Larin KV. Optical coherence tomography for noninvasive monitoring of drug delivery. Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews 2025:115571.
Ambekar YS, Caiaffa CD, Wlodarczyk BJ, Singh M, Schill AW, Steele JW, Zhang J, Aglyamov SR, Scarcelli G, Finnell RH, Larin KV. Optical coherence tomography-guided Brillouin microscopy highlights regional tissue stiffness differences during anterior neural tube closure in the Mthfd1l murine mutant. Development2024;151(10).
Singh M, Zvietcovich F, Zevallos-Delgado C, Ambekar YS, Aglyamov SR, Larin KV. Whole embryo biomechanics with reverberant optical coherence elastography. Optica 2024;11(5):686–92.
Farsheed AC, Zevallos-Delgado C, Yu LT, Saeidifard S, Swain JWR, Makhoul JT, Thomas AJ, Cole CC, Garcia Huitron E, Grande-Allen KJ, Singh M, Larin KV, Hartgerink JD. Tunable Macroscopic Alignment of Self-Assembling Peptide Nanofibers. ACS Nano 2024.
Hatami M, Özbek A, Deán-Ben XL, Gutierrez J, Schill A, Razansky D, Larin KV. Noninvasive Tracking of Embryonic Cardiac Dynamics and Development with Volumetric Optoacoustic Spectroscopy. Advanced Science 2024;n/a(n/a):2400089.
Caiaffa CD, Ambekar YS, Singh M, Lin YL, Wlodarczyk B, Aglyamov SR, Scarcelli G, Larin KV, Finnell RH. Disruption of Fuz in mouse embryos generates hypoplastic hindbrain development and reduced cranial nerve ganglia. Developmental Dynamics 2024;n/a(n/a):1–13.
Lan, G., S.R. Aglyamov, K.V. Larin, and M.D. Twa (2021). “In vivo human corneal shear-wave optical coherence elastography.” Optometry and vision science: official publication of the American Academy of Optometry, 98(1), 58-63. https://doi.org/10.1097/OPX.0000000000001633
Zvietcovich, F., A. Nair, Y.S. Ambekar, M. Singh, S.R. Aglyamov, M.D. Twa, and K.V. Larin (2020). “Confocal air-coupled ultrasonic optical coherence elastography probe for quantitative biomechanics.” Optics Letters, 45(23), 6567-6570. https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.410593
Raghunathan, R., C-H. Liu, A. Kouka, M. Singh, R.C. Miranda, and K.V. Larin (2020). “Dose-response analysis of microvasculature changes in the murine fetal brain and the maternal extremities due to prenatal ethanol exposure.” Journal of Biomedical Optics, 25(12), 126001. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JBO.25.12.126001
Miranda, R.C., R. Raghunathan, and K.V. Larin (2020). “Angiographic OCT images forewarn of disorders caused by maternal drug use.” Biophotonics (https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Angiographic_OCT_Images_Forewarn_of_…
Zvietcovich, F., M. Singh, Y.S. Ambekar, S.R. Aglyamov, M.D. Twa, K.V. Larin (2020). “Micro air-pulse spatial deformation spreading characterizes degree of anisotropy in tissues.” IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, doi: 10.1109/JSTQE.2020.3038633.
Zvietcovich, F., A. Nair, M. Singh, S.R. Aglyamov, M.D. Twa, and K.V. Larin (2020). “Dynamic optical coherence elastography of the anterior eye: understanding the biomechanics of the limbus.” Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 61(7). doi: https://doi.org/10.1167/iovs.61.13.7
Boerner, P., D. Nevozhay, M. Hatamimoslehabadi, H.S. Chawla, F. Zvietcovich, S.Aglyamov, K.V. Larin, and K.V. Sokolov (2020). “Repetitive optical coherence elastography measurements with blinking nanobombs.” Biomedical Optics Express, 11(11), 6659-6673. https://doi.org/10.1364/BOE.401734
Ambekar, Y.S., M. Singh, G. Scarcelli, E.M. Rueda, B.M. Hall, R.A. Poché, and K.V. Larin (2020). “Characterization of retinal biomechanical properties using Brillouin microscopy.” Journal of Biomedical Optics, 25(9), 090502. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JBO.25.9.090502
Liu, C-H., D. Nevozhay, H. Zhang, S. Das, A. Schill, M. Singh, S. Aglyamov, K.V. Sokolov, and K.V. Larin (2020). “Longitudinal elastic wave imaging using nanobomb optical coherence elastography: erratum.” Optics Letters, 45(12), 3296-3296. https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.398141
Raghunathan, R., C-H. Liu, Y.S. Ambekar, M. Singh, R.C. Miranda, and K.V. Larin (2020). “Optical coherence tomography to evaluate murine fetal brain vasculature changes caused by prenatal exposure to nicotine.” Biomedical Optics Express, 11(7): 3618-3632. https://doi.org/10.1364/BOE.394905

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