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  • Volume 7, Issue 5
  • Volume 7, Issue 5

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    Biophotonics Tools

    Handheld IR device could be game-changer for the visually impaired

    University of Cincinnati (Ohio) philosophy and psychology graduate assistant Luis Favela studies how people perceive their environment, and how those perceptions inform their ...
    (Adapted from Wikipedia)
    FIGURE 1. A superlens with a refractive index of -1 bends light entering it backwards, producing an image plane inside the metamaterial and another on the opposite side of the material, which can have super-resolution.
    Fluorescence

    SUPER-RESOLUTION MICROSCOPY: New twists on superlenses improve subwavelength microscopy

    Sept. 16, 2014
    Metamaterials can overcome traditional limits on optical resolution, but they pose other challenges including high losses, dependence on resonances, and limited depths of field...
    FIGURE 1. The shape of Horiba's iHR550 imaging spectrometer is dictated by its requirements.
    Bioimaging

    SPECTRAL IMAGING: Imaging spectrometers look at life in two ways

    Sept. 16, 2014
    Spectral imaging is finding more and more applications in life sciences, from noninvasive disease diagnosis to food processing. Various imaging spectrometers make those applications...
    (Image courtesy of InSphero)
    FIGURE 1. In this 3D InSight tumor microtissue from InSphero—a supplier of 3D microtissues for predictive drug testing—an image captured with the Opera Phenix shows expressed GFP (green) and Hoechst dye (blue) stains the nuclei.
    Bioimaging

    3D OPTICAL MOLECULAR IMAGING: Developing drugs in 3D

    Sept. 16, 2014
    New 3D imaging tools and techniques are enabling drug development with multiple, simultaneous views; tracking of multiple targets; greater depth and resolution; multimode operation...
    FIGURE 1. Methods of measuring displacement include Archimedes' approach, which yields the object volume independent of the object's properties or geometry, as in the case of a king's crown composed of unknown materials (a). An electrical Coulter counter uses displaced free electrons in an electrolyte and a measurement of voltage to determine cell volume (b). The optical Coulter counter uses the displacement of dye molecules and optical transmission to measure cell volume (c) [3].
    Biophotonics Techniques

    CYTOMETRY/CELL ANALYSIS: Optical cell volume measurement

    Sept. 16, 2014
    The ability to measure cell volume enables greater understanding of biological processes, including disease development. A new method based on light absorption enables high throughput...

    More content from Volume 7, Issue 5

    FIGURE 1. Each of the major biological chromophores has an absorption spectra. The wavelength of light needed to activate each of these correlates with a semiconductor laser material. Above are shown typical solid-state lasers used for these wavelengths. Penetration depth of light is strongly dependent on wavelength, and must be considered when determining the energy for a particular application.
    Biomedicine

    MEDICAL AND AESTHETIC LASERS: Semiconductor diode laser advances enable medical applications

    Sept. 16, 2014
    Advances in semiconductor diode laser sources are facilitating the migration of medical and aesthetic lasers to consumer markets. Semiconductor diode lasers offer advantages over...
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    Fluorescence

    OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY: High-resolution micro-OCT uncovers correlations

    Sept. 16, 2014
    With a resolution of 1-2 microns, micro-OCT is the only noninvasive method able to comprehensively and simultaneously study both the subcellular structures and functions important...
    The first at-home, noninvasive test for colorectal cancer, by Exact Sciences, analyzes DNA and biomarkers using fluorescence.
    Fluorescence

    FLUORESCENCE/MEDICAL LASERS: Regulatory approval takes photonics-based systems to the clinic

    Sept. 16, 2014
    Biophotonics-based systems earning recent regulatory approval include a welcome advance in colorectal cancer screening that gives patients a pass on the usual dietary restrictions...
    Anita Goel, MD, Ph.D., who was a featured speaker at Strategies in Biophotonics (Boston; Sept. 9-11, 2014), pursues global health advances as chairman and CEO of both Nanobiosym Inc. (NBS) and Nanobiosym Diagnostics.
    Biomedicine

    NANOTECHNOLOGY/MOBILE HEALTH: Pioneering products for global priorities

    Sept. 16, 2014
    Dr. Anita Goel's ultimate goal, to understand living systems, has led her on a 20-year quest to help decentralize, mobilize, and personalize medicine.
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    Fluorescence

    CELL BIOLOGY/SPECTROSCOPY: Microspectroscopy setup enables direct monitoring of singlet oxygen in individual cells

    Sept. 16, 2014
    Singlet oxygen, the first excited state of molecular oxygen, is a highly reactive species that plays an important role in a wide range of biological processes, including cell ...
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    Bioimaging

    PHOTOACOUSTIC TOMOGRAPHY/NANOTECHNOLOGY: Photoacoustic method enables noninvasive, dynamic imaging of small intestine

    Sept. 16, 2014
    Nanoparticles suspended in liquid, ingested by patients, promises to enable photoacoustic tomography (PAT) imaging for a noninvasive, real-time view of the small intestine.
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    Bioimaging

    BIOMEDICAL IMAGING: Optical absorption's suppression of interference promising for biomedical imaging

    Sept. 16, 2014
    A new discovery could improve medical imaging within biological tissue: Physicists from the University of Twente and Yale University found that light traveling through a diffusing...
    Image courtesy of Camp/NIST
    High-speed BCARS allows detailed mapping of specific components of tissue samples. A false-color BCARS image of mouse liver tissue (left) picks out cell nuclei in blue, collagen in orange, and proteins in green. An image of tumor and normal brain tissue from a mouse (right) has been colored to show cell nuclei in blue, lipids in red, and red blood cells in green. Images show an area about 200 µm across.
    Bioimaging

    CELL BIOLOGY/HYPERSPECTRAL RAMAN: Dramatic boost in Raman signal facilitates cell/tissue analysis

    Sept. 16, 2014
    A new form of spontaneous Raman spectroscopy delivers signals 10,000 times stronger than those obtained from spontaneous Raman scattering, and 100 times stronger than signals ...
    Barbaragoode2
    Biophotonics Techniques

    The rise of optogenetics

    Sept. 15, 2014
    On average, a new study on optogenetics is reported every day. That's been the trend for the past two years.