Rachel Won

Zhen Xu, Li Ka Shing Endowed Professor of Biomedical Engineering and professor of Radiology and Neurosurgery at the University of Michigan, speaks to Nature Reviews Electrical Engineering about the journey that led to her success in inventing and advancing histotripsy to help patients, and shares her vision as the mid-career winner of the 2026 Sony Women in Technology Award with Nature.

This year’s Photonics Europe was held from 12 April to 16 April in Strasbourg, France, providing a forum for discussing the latest progress in optics and photonics technologies covering digital optics, quantum technologies, optical imaging, sensing, metrology, THz photonics, three-dimensional printed optics, photonic glasses, photosensitive materials and biophotonics. It was co-located with SPIE Optical Systems Design.

This year’s Photonics West, held in San Francisco, California, from 17 to 22 January, attracted over 23,000 attendees from 26 countries to the Moscone Centre, contributing to more than 4,000 technical presentations and over 1,500 exhibition booths.