Frédéric Leblond, Eng., Ph.D.

Frédéric Leblond is a Professor in the Department of Engineering Physics at Polytechnique Montréal and Director of LumedLab, a biomedical optics laboratory he founded in 2012 at Polytechnique and the CRCHUM medical research center. He is also a member of the Institut du Cancer de Montréal and the Centre for Optics, Photonics and Lasers (COPL). An internationally recognized leader in biomedical optics, Dr. Leblond’s work spans fundamental light-tissue interactions, applied photonics, and clinical translation of advanced optical technologies.

Professor Leblond holds a B.Eng. in Engineering Physics from Polytechnique Montréal, an M.Sc. in Physics from Université Laval, and a Ph.D. in Physics from McGill University, where he carried out theoretical physics research at the Perimeter Institute. He completed postdoctoral work at the University of Chicago in quantum mechanics, cosmology, and superstring theory before transitioning to biomedical engineering. He then spent three years as a senior researcher at Advanced Research Technologies (ART), a Montreal medical imaging company, developing medical instrumentation. Prior to returning to Polytechnique, he served for five years on the engineering faculty at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where he was affiliated with the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

Dr. Leblond’s research focuses on developing light-based medical technologies for real-time tissue characterization, image-guided surgery, and precision diagnostics. LumedLab explores fundamental optical signatures in tissues and biofluids and leverages spectroscopy, molecular optical imaging, and predictive modeling approaches - including machine learning and other AI methods - to create practical, clinically deployable solutions. Applications span surgical oncology (e.g., neurosurgery, breast cancer surgery, colorectal and lung procedures), infectious diseases, and biofluid-based diagnostic and prognostic tests. The laboratory, composed of 22 research personnel, currently leads more than 15 clinical studies in collaboration with over 20 surgeons, pathologists, and radiation oncologists.

Professor Leblond has supervised numerous graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and undergraduate trainees over the course of his career. He is the author of more than 130 peer-reviewed publications and holds multiple patents. His research has received sustained support from major Canadian and international funding agencies, including NSERC, CIHR, CFI, FRQNT, Mitacs, and the U.S. National Institutes of Health, among others.

He is also a founder of Reveal Life Science, a company developing optical solutions for surgical guidance and diagnostic testing. He is the inventor of the Sentry, a neurosurgical guidance device commercialized by the company, and contributes to innovations aimed at improving clinical workflows in breast-conserving surgery, lung cancer diagnostics, and other domains.