Xincheng Yao, Ph.D., an assistant biomedical engineering professor in the UAB School of Engineering, has received a National Science Foundation Career Award. The five-year, $400,000 award benefits Yao’s research into the development of an optical coherence tomography instrument that provides sub-cellular- and sub-millisecond-resolution imaging of the human retina. The technology promises a high-resolution method for noninvasive evaluation of retinal neural function and dynamics, which could significantly advance the study and early diagnosis of major eye diseases such as glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration.