© 1994 SPIE. All rights reserved. The Vanderbilt free-electron laser has been operational for several years. This extended collaboration has been investigating outstanding problems in biological physics and medical physics with several research goals in mind. Our most fundamental goal is to improve the understanding of intermolecular and intramolecular vibrational energy transfer mechanisms in biopolymers. Our approach is to pursue both experimental and theoretical research addressing vibrational energy transfer in biological physics. The remaining goals can be summarized as the application of our fundamental advancements in polymer physics to molecular biology and to clinical and surgical medicine. One of our most successful research programs to date has been a systematic investigation of the wavelength dependence for infrared laser ablation of tissue, highlighting the potential for clinical and surgical applications of infrared light delivered with picosecond pulses. This research program demonstrates the role of molecular mechanisms for vibrational energy transfer in determining the ablative properties of tissue.