The following section is edited as the special issue for the 2nd Biomedical Imaging and Sensing Conference (BISC’16) held on May 18–20, 2016, in Pacifico Yokohama, Japan, which was within the framework of the OPTICS and PHOTONICS International Congress (OPIC 2016) composed of 11 scientific conferences. In the fields of biomedical science and technology, optics and photonics play an important role and receive much attention from people in the community of education, research, and industry. In this expanding trend, BISC’16 was intended to provide exciting opportunity for discussion of various topics and exchanging novel information. BISC aims at covering the recent progress of imaging and sensing in biomedicine and related areas, including the following major topics.

  • Advanced Microscopy

  • Interferometry and Holography

  • Optical Coherence Tomography

  • Diffuse Spectroscopy

  • Spectral Imaging and Processing

  • Optical Biopsy

The total number of papers presented in BISC’16 was 75, including 19 invited papers, and the total number of participants was 112. This special section contains contributed papers based on the presentations at BISC’16. Each of submitted manuscripts was reviewed and accepted under the editorial policy of Optical Review.

BISC’16 was co-sponsored by The Japan Society of Applied Physics (JSAP) and The Optical Society of Japan (OSJ). Finally, we appreciate all who made a contribution to BISC’16.

December 2016

Editor of Special Section

Yoshihisa Aizu