Inga Saknite, PhD, is an Adjoint Assistant Professor in Dermatology at the Vanderbilt Dermatology Translational Research Clinic and a Senior Researcher at the University of Latvia. Her main research interest is in advancing noninvasive imaging technologies to assess skin. Her research experience includes spectral imaging, multiohoton microsopy and reflectance confocal microscopy of human skin.
Among other projects, Dr. Saknite is currently leading the effort to acquire high quality standardized photographs of patients with monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She has experience in physics, biomedical optics, device development, and clinical studies, with a particular focus on hyperspectral and microscopic imaging, image processing and analysis, and algorithm development.
Dr. Saknite received her PhD in physics from the University of Latvia. She was then awarded the Fulbright Scholarship to advance her translational research career at the Beckman Laser Institute of the University of California, Irvine, under the mentorship of Dr. Bruce Tromberg. Dr. Saknite was named the inaugural Vanderbilt Postdoctoral Mentor of the Year in 2021. She has also received the Abstract Achievement Award at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology and the best talk award at the Annual Vanderbilt Postdoctoral Association Symposium.
As a Senior Researcher at the Biophotonics Laboratory, Institute of Atomic Physics and Spectroscopy, University of Latvia in Riga, Latvia, Dr. Saknite's research focus is the project "Assessment of the area and level of skin inflammation by noninvasive wide-field hyperspectral imaging and reflectance confocal microscopy." This project is supported by the European Regional Development Fund (1.1.1.2/VIAA/4/20/665)