The Laser, Optics and Instrumentation Laboratory, established in the year 2000, explores the applications of continuous wave and short pulse lasers in the areas of material characterization and manipulation. Students and faculty of this lab are involved in developing new techniques and models related to biomedical imaging, laser irradiation of tumors, optical diagnosis of debonding in thermal protection tiles of space shuttle and cellular interrogation using fiber-optic nanobiosensors.