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  • Volume 7, Issue 1
  • Volume 7, Issue 1

    (Image courtesy of Carl Zeiss Microscopy)
    The Skyship 600 blimp, subject of an upcoming BBC Two documentary titled Cloud Lab, carried a team of weather adventurers cross-country to study cloud creation over the course of one month.
    Microscopy

    Optical microscopy assists blimp-based air study

    Jan. 22, 2014
    Seeking to explain how clouds are created and the relationship between diverse ecosystems and weather, a multidisciplinary team of British scientists made a month-long, U.S. coast...
    (Image courtesy of LaVision BioTec)
    Light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) optically sections samples and collects data for three-dimensional reconstructions, as shown in this mouse brain.
    Microscopy

    FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPY/CELL BIOLOGY: The planar truth about light-sheet microscopy

    Jan. 22, 2014
    Optical sectioning with light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) is fast and keeps cells and specimens safe.
    1401bowimam Frontis A
    Fluorescence

    MICROSCOPY/OPHTHALMOLOGY/SUPERCONTINUUM LASERS: Supercontinuum light empowers research, biomedicine

    Jan. 22, 2014
    Now widely embraced in many fields, supercontinuum sources offer life scientists unprecedented flexibility. The technology is enabling both research and clinical applications,...
    (Images courtesy of Dr. Cynthia Lee Darling, UCSF)
    FIGURE 1. Researchers at University of California, San Francisco used Sensors Unlimited's GA1280J shortwave infrared (SWIR) camera to image the lesions on biting surfaces and between teeth. Occlusal images of one-day lesions for one sample were acquired with different filters: NIR reflectance images with crossed polarizers (a), 1300 nm (b), 1460 nm (c), and 1600 nm, along with visible reflectance image with crossed polarizers (d) and fluorescence (e).
    Optical Coherence Tomography

    OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY/DENTISTRY: Driving OCT into dentistry

    Jan. 22, 2014
    The first international symposium on optical coherence tomography (OCT) in dentistry highlighted the many advantages of optical diagnostics over current "gold standard" technologies...

    More content from Volume 7, Issue 1

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    Bioimaging

    EARLY CANCER DETECTION/SUBCELLULAR OPTICAL IMAGING: Deep-tissue dysplasia detection with real-time subcellular analysis

    Jan. 22, 2014
    Angle-resolved low coherence interferometry (a/LCI) directly measures diagnostically relevant sub-cellular features in epithelial tissues up to 500 μm below the surface. Unlike...
    FIGURE 1. The extended NIR (exNIR) spectral range, also known as 'the second optical window,' ranges from about 900 to 1600 nm.
    Spectroscopy

    MULTISPECTRAL IMAGING/DEEP TISSUE IMAGING: Extended near-infrared: a new window on in vivo bioimaging

    Jan. 22, 2014
    Multispectral extended near-infrared (exNIR) optical imaging is enabling deeper in vivo optical imaging, thanks to new indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) sensors. The label-free...
    NIGHTSEA's Stereo Microscope Fluorescence Adapter (SFA) system, shown with the Royal Blue setup, lets stereomicroscope owners add fluorescence capability with very little expense.
    Microscopy

    BIOIMAGING/MICROSCOPY/NEUROSCIENCE: Low cost and advanced imaging apply beyond Neuroscience audience

    Jan. 21, 2014
    Low cost was a theme at the 2013 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting (November 9–13, San Diego, CA), as vendors demonstrated their responses to the effect of funding cuts ...
    1401news Add
    Microscopy

    BIOPHOTONICS RESEARCH/FUNDING: Biophotonics research attracts big investments

    Jan. 21, 2014
    Recent announcements of biophotonics research investments in both of Earth's hemispheres bode well for life sciences.
    1401news Fig6
    Microscopy

    EUROPEAN PHOTONICS: Life sciences the focus of EPIC's anniversary event keynote

    Jan. 21, 2014
    The European Photonics Consortium (EPIC) celebrated its 10th anniversary on December 13, 2013, with the help of 160 supporters from 26 countries at a dedicated event in Brussels...
    Thorlabs' OTM200 optical tweezers microscope system can couple to any inverted microscope.
    Fluorescence

    CELL BIOLOGY/OPTICAL MICROSCOPY/MULTISPECTRAL IMAGING: Cell Bio 2013 emphasizes optics-enabled discovery

    Jan. 21, 2014
    At its 2013 annual meeting (New Orleans, LA; December 14-17), the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) chose to highlight a discovery, enabled by optics, that answers a century...
    1401news Fig1
    Biophotonics Tools

    DNA SEQUENCING/LAB-ON-A-CHIP: Two of Scientific American's Top 10 ideas are biophotonics-based

    Jan. 21, 2014
    Just about a year ago, in January 2013, an article in Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News asked, "when will DNA sequencing fully expand from research tool to routine clinical...
    1402bow Newsiyl Logo Colorv
    Microscopy

    INTERNATIONAL PHOTONICS: 2015 to be an International Year of Light, says UN

    Jan. 21, 2014
    Do you wish people in general -- and politicians in particular -- had a better appreciation of light and the technologies that harness its potential? Well, the United Nations ...
    1401bowbreak Fig10
    Spectroscopy

    RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY/DRUG TESTING: SERS will add real-time analysis to painless microneedle patch for drug testing

    Jan. 21, 2014
    A bandage-like patch of polymer microneedles, paired with surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), may enable a future method for safe and painless testing for drugs and some...
    1401bowbreak Fig8
    Biomedicine

    LIGHT SOURCES/CANCER DETECTION/ DENTISTRY: High performance mid-IR sources enable applications such as skin cancer detection

    Jan. 21, 2014
    A combination of germanium and tin (GeSn) can create LEDs that emit in the IR wavelength range, around 2 μm.
    (Image courtesy of IMP)
    A fluorophore's spectral light modified up to ~100 nm above a nanostructure-coated microscope slide.
    Fluorescence

    3D IMAGING/FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPY: Microscopy technique generates 3D image as quickly as 2D

    Jan. 21, 2014
    Most microscopy approaches produce 3D imagery by scanning the depth of a sample, which is problematic for optically sensitive or fast-moving samples. But a simple, new technique...