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  • Volume 6, Issue 2

    • Volume 6, Issue 2

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    Optical Coherence Tomography

    OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY/AUDIOLOGY: OCT demonstrated for clinical and research application to hearing loss assessment

    March 1, 2013
    Recently, researchers broke ground on a new application for optical coherence tomography (OCT) when they made the first-ever demonstration of structural and functional imaging...
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    Fluorescence

    LIVE CELL IMAGING/MICROSCOPY: Low-intensity laser enables label-free approach to computed 3D live cell imaging

    March 1, 2013
    A pair of Swiss researchers has designed a device, based on holographic microscopy and computational image processing, that can create 3D images of living cells and track their...
    Image courtesy of Gary Shambat, Stanford School of Engineering
    Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) depicts a nanobeam, including a large part of the handle tip, inserted in a typical cell.
    Biomedicine

    NANOBIOSENSING/BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH/ PERSONALIZED MEDICINE: Non-damaging, light-emitting nanoprobes enable long-term study of living cells

    Barbara Gefvert
    March 1, 2013
    A new study is the first, according to its authors, to demonstrate that sophisticated, engineered light resonators can be inserted inside cells without causing damage.
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    Spectroscopy

    MULTISPECTRAL IMAGING/NEUROSCIENCE: Multispectral system enables brain development discovery

    March 1, 2013
    Multispectral imaging has enabled the discovery that blood flow is controlled differently by infant and adult brains.
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    Fluorescence

    RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY/GUIDED SURGERY: Wavelength modulation overcomes drawbacks of Raman spectroscopy for tissue assessment

    March 1, 2013
    The Raman effect - the inelastic scattering of light from a specimen - produces a molecular fingerprint that can identify a sample by its constituent elements.

    More content from Volume 6, Issue 2

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    Cell Biology

    HIGH-RESOLUTION BIOIMAGING/NANOTECHNOLOGY: Nanodiamonds enable magnetic resonance of individual cells, other bioimaging possibilities

    March 1, 2013
    Spanish and Australian researchers have collaborated on a new imaging technique similar to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), but offering resolution and sensitivity sufficient...
    (Image courtesy of Michalina Gora, Ph.D., and Kevin Gallagher, Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital)
    This one-inch endomicroscopy capsule, tethered to a console by optical fiber, contains a rotating infrared laser tip along with sensors that record reflected light.
    Optical Coherence Tomography

    MICROENDOSCOPY/OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY/ONCOLOGY: Tiny OCT endoscope could have big impact on esophageal cancer precursor Barrett's

    Barbara Gefvert
    March 1, 2013
    A laser-based imaging system enclosed in a capsule about the size of a multivitamin is the creation of researchers at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General...
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    Neuroscience

    Emerging technologies target bio

    Barbara Gefvert
    March 1, 2013
    Was the 2013 SPIE Startup Challenge a good barometer for the impact of life sciences in emerging applications of optics and photonics?
    (Courtesy of BioPet Vet Lab/PooPrints)
    BioPet Vet Lab scientists work to find a DNA match for PooPrints-friendly communities across the country.
    Fluorescence

    DNA analysis finds dog poop offenders

    Lee Dubay
    March 1, 2013
    Dog owners disgusted by scooping your dog's poop, take note: If you live in a managed community where there is a known problem of dog walkers who won't clean up after them, your...
    FIGURE 1. Simulated spectra of the biomarker hydrogen cyanide (HCN), along with the most important interfering compound, water vapor (H2O), at atmospheric pressure and at concentrations typically found in exhaled human breath. Note the logarithmic scale on the y axis.
    Spectroscopy

    SPECTROSCOPY/NONINVASIVE DIAGNOSIS/BREATH ANALYSIS: Noninvasive medical breath analysis with sensitive IR spectroscopy

    March 1, 2013
    Technological advances have done away with the need to concentrate breath for analysis, and promise noninvasive measurement of biomarkers. Studies based on mid-infrared light ...
    (Image courtesy of Polymicro Technologies)
    Polymicro Technologies' sterilizable and biocompatible JTFIH silica/silica optical fiber delivering laser light at its tip.
    Biomedicine

    PRODUCT FOCUS: Optical fibers

    Lee Dubay
    March 1, 2013
    Optical fiber technology, which has been used in the clinic since the 1960s, offers a convenient, affordable, safe, and effective approach for delivering light to and from the...
    FIGURE 1. (a) A laboratory-based cryogenic soft x-ray radiograph shows a S. cerevisiae yeast cell at a 2° tilt; (b) The central slice of the corresponding tomographic reconstruction from a full 120° tilt series corresponds to a total dose of 7.2 MGy of absorbed radiation; (c and d) In the depiction of the 3D segmented volume of the cell membrane (c) and internal organelles (b), the smallest detectable structure is approximately 90 nm in diameter.
    Fluorescence

    WHOLE CELL TOMOGRAPHY/MOLECULAR BIOLOGY/STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY: Affordable x-ray microscopy with nanoscale resolution

    March 1, 2013
    Soft x-ray microscopy enables imaging of whole cells at intermediate length scales, helping to bridge the resolution gap between light and electron microscopy. The widespread ...
    (Image courtesy of Stephen A. Boppart)
    FIGURE 1. This handheld device uses optical coherence tomography (OCT) to reveal bacterial biofilms—behind the tympanic membrane (TM)—that cause ear infections.
    Optical Coherence Tomography

    NEAR-INFRARED OPTICS/OCT/ONCOLOGY: Handheld optical devices for the physician's toolbox

    Mike May
    March 1, 2013
    Near-infrared light enables handheld both diagnostics and screening instruments that could add considerable power to the arsenal of primary care and specialty physicians.
    Students at the Principles and Applications of Time-resolved Fluorescence Spectroscopy European short course appreciated the opportunity to talk with renowned scientist Joseph R. Lakowicz, director of the Center for Fluorescence Spectroscopy at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, who co-founded the event in 2003.
    Fluorescence

    FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY: A decade of teaching fundamentals and applications in fluorescence spectroscopy

    Barbara Gefvert
    March 1, 2013
    PicoQuant GmbH (Berlin, Germany) celebrated the 10th edition of its European Short Course called Principles and Applications of Time-resolved Fluorescence Spectroscopy in Berlin...
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    Microscopy

    MICROSCOPY/OPTOGENETICS/SINGLE MOLECULE DETECTION: Bio-optics prominent at AAAS 2013 annual meeting

    March 1, 2013
    Bio-optics technologies figured prominently at the 2013 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting (February 14-18, Boston, MA).
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    Fluorescence

    BIOMEDICAL OPTICS/EMERGING BIOPHOTONICS: BiOS once again dominates Photonics West

    March 1, 2013
    BiOS, the world's largest biomedical optics and biophotonics symposium and exhibition, launched the 2013 Photonics West (February 2-7, San Francisco, CA) event.
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    Biophotonics Tools

    OPHTHALMOLOGY/MICROCAMERA TECHNOLOGY: FDA approves artificial retina

    March 1, 2013
    The first-ever artificial retina implant, designed to replace damaged cells within the eye, has received market approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).