Industry News

A research team in Germany prototypes a fast, “assembly line”-type approach for building multiphoton entangled states—a key resource for some next-gen quantum technologies.

We are delighted to welcome Professor Jean-Christophe Baret as an Associate Editor for Lab on a Chip! Jean-Christophe Baret University of Bordeaux , France JC Baret is Professor at the University of Bordeaux and member of the Institut Universitaire de France. He obtained his PhD from the University of Twente (NL) in 2005 and joined […]

A two-photon fluorescence imaging method developed by researchers at the University of Hong Kong and the University of California, Berkeley was able to image the flow of individual blood cells at 1000 2D frames and 1,000,000 line-scans per second in the brains of awake mice.

Such rapid measurements go beyond the reach of conventional two-photon microscopy methods to enable the study of blood flow at the single-cell level in large blood vessels. The ultrafast two-photon fluorescence imaging technique could help scientists better understand how energy is distributed and regulated in both healthy and diseased brains, by revealing blood flow changes at the level of individual blood vessels and across the larger vessel network within the...

Transform microfluidics industry with your research Dolomite Microfluidic Competition 2022 is a competition for all researchers, students who are working or studying on microfluidics projects across the globe. We know scientists around the world may have many great ideas, but don’t have enough resources for their projects. Therefore, Dolomite Microfluidics would like to organize this competition […]

As scientists seek to image deeper in tissue with high enough resolution to track cellular processes, they are increasingly turning to multiphoton techniques. In multiphoton microscopy, longer-wavelength photons, which have lower energy and penetrate further than their shorter-wavelength counterparts, cause less tissue damage while imaging at greater depths. But, historically, these systems have required sophisticated and complex instrumentation that has put them out of reach for many clinical and laboratory settings.

This situation is changing. In our January/February issue, we published a story by Mihaela Balu, who wrote about a compact imaging head that could house a femtosecond fiber laser along with associated optics and...

Endangered animals, quite understandably, do their best not to be found. So it took the aid of sophisticated imaging and recording technology for a team of researchers from Finland and the U.K. to capture the habits and movements of tree hyraxes in the mountains of Kenya.

Tree hyraxes, mainly found in Africa, are nocturnal mammals with a guinea pig-like appearance that, as their name suggests, spend a lot of time in trees.


A tree hyrax. The animals dwell in the shrinking forests of the mountains of Kenya. Courtesy of Hanna Rosti.

Takeaways from the researchers’ study included: the higher in trees the better for an individual animal’s survival, and the bigger the forested areas the better for providing food...

For decades, optical microscopy has provided the mechanism with which to image cells and tissue for the purposes of cancer research, digital pathology, and the study of the brain. Samples are typically studied in frozen sections. Most of these systems use confocal microscopy and single-photon excitation, typically from a continuous-wave light source, to probe the sample. Multiphoton microscopy is used when deep-tissue and cellular-level resolution are desired to preserve the image of the tissue in its native environment. In laser scanning multiphoton microscopes, light from an ultrafast laser is tightly focused and scanned across the sample using fast mirrors. An image is created by detecting the fluorescence signal intensity at each point...

The biomedical community recognized the advantages of optical fibers long ago, accepting them even before their adoption for long-haul telecommunications1. Early research on the light-guiding properties of fibers in the late 1920s was aimed at applications in medical imaging. The first clad optical fiber was drawn on December 8, 1956, by Larry Curtis (Figure 1), a graduate student under Basil Hirschowitz at the University of Michigan. The technology was used in a multifiber bundle for a fiber endoscope, which Hirschowitz first tested on himself2.


Figure 1. Larry Curtis of the University of Michigan draws the first optical clad fiber by the rod-in-tube method, for use in a medical endoscope. Courtesy of Abraham Katzir.
Optical...

Photonics Media’s second annual online BioPhotonics Conference, highlighting the latest advancements in optical biomedical and life sciences technology, will run Oct. 25-27. Attendees can expect an expansive lineup of presentations detailing the cutting-edge research and innovative technologies that are leading to improved diagnostics, treatments, and heightened understanding of the biophotonics field.

Top minds from academia and industry will present keynotes and lectures spotlighting topics such as OCT, live-tissue imaging, microscopy, artificial intelligence in imaging, and biomedical lasers. The free, three-day online conference features over 35 presentations across seven tracks. Sessions can be viewed on demand following...

A technique for diagnosing tuberculosis (TB) in children takes advantage of the optical properties of gold nanoparticles to detect the disease. The technique uses an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to enhance the sensitivity of the test.

According to the research team from the University of Washington School of Medicine and Tulane University, it is particularly challenging to diagnose TB in children. Samples of the bacteria that are markers of the disease are difficult to obtain from children, even when sputum-based testing is used.

The researchers developed a way to optically detect two virulence factors for TB — the lipoarabinomannan (LAM) molecule and an associated protein called LprG. These factors are found on...