Biomedical Applications in Probing Deep Tissue Using Mid-Infrared Supercontinuum Optical Biopsy
Lingyan Shi, Robert R. Alfano in Deep Imaging in Tissue and Biomedical Materials, 2017
This first advent in Europe, of Raman-assisted brain surgery, is the culmination of much research worldwide. It is dependent on the Raman effect being carried out at near-infrared (NIR: 0.75 to <3 μm) wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum to access MIR (3 to 25 μm) vibrational signatures of molecular species. The NIR operation of Raman has allowed the mature field of silica glass fiber-optics to be taken advantage of to transform Raman from “benchtop” origins into a convincing platform for in vivo, real-time medical imaging. Purified silica glass drawn to fiber is the most NIR transparent condensed medium, per unit optical pathlength, on Earth, developed in the latter part of the 20th century to underpin Internet telecommunications and photonics. (Photonics is using light to process and deliver information; biophotonics is using light as a therapy or, as here, for medical diagnosis of disease to assist clinical decision- taking for best healthcare outcomes. Light sensing, mapping and imaging of diseased human tissue and cells are at the heart of biophotonic medical diagnoses.)
Spectro-Temporal Autofluorescence Contrast–Based Imaging for Brain Tumor Margin Detection and Biobanking
Yu Chen, Babak Kateb in Neurophotonics and Brain Mapping, 2017
The spectro-temporal autofluorescence system has the ability to create real-time, wide-field contrast images based on relative fluorescence lifetime signatures. This system holds the potential to differentiate and detect tissues in biorepositories (ex vivo) and as an intraoperative device in clinical setting (in vivo). The rapid imaging rate facilitates implementation of FLIM modality in intraoperative setting and can enable cancer margin delineation and accurate scission, to achieve better patient outcome. Those capabilities coupled with modular, low-cost components bring closer the realization of the implementation of this system in a clinical setting. This technology is just one example of new advances in biophotonics that enable scientists, engineers, and clinicians to advance technologies from the bench to the bedside with continuing decrease in complexity and development times.
Optical Cardiovascular Imaging
Robert J. Gropler, David K. Glover, Albert J. Sinusas, Heinrich Taegtmeyer in Cardiovascular Molecular Imaging, 2007
Fluorescent imaging has been developed and further refined in a number of laboratories (19,39,47,56,66,71,100–102) and has emerged as a powerful new investigative approach, making countless contributions to the area of cardiac electrophysiology over the last two decades. Exciting new developments in biophotonics suggest that the best is yet to come. The next decade is likely to yield: (i) novel optical molecular probes for multiparametric optical sensing of various biological parameters, processes, molecules, proteins, and their functional states; (ii) novel optical imaging modalities for three-dimensional optical interrogation of molecular probes with precise anatomical localization of the signal origin with sub-cellular spatial resolution.
Combined radiation strategies for novel and enhanced cancer treatment
Published in International Journal of Radiation Biology, 2020
Georgios Kareliotis, Ioanna Tremi, Myrsini Kaitatzi, Eleni Drakaki, Alexandros A. Serafetinides, Mersini Makropoulou, Alexandros G. Georgakilas
Unfortunately, most currently used PSs absorb light mainly in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Therefore, in an ideal protocol the light used should be IR, and, hence, penetrative, and, at the same time visible, and as a result PS-effective. The parallel use of another modality as upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) may be the solution to this puzzle. They were introduced in the past decade in the field of biophotonics, demonstrating high-imaging resolution and relatively large penetration depth in tissues (Soderlund et al. 2015). They form a class of photoluminescent materials, able to emit light with shorter λ than the one absorbed. This procedure, that may involve the sequential absorption of two or more photons, is called photon upconversion (Singh et al. 2019). Hence, UCNPs could be used in PDT to achieve deep lesion treatment, with the conversion of external illuminating IR light to internal illuminating visible, able to activate most photosensitizing agents.
Women’s contributions to radiobiology in Ireland; from small beginnings….
Published in International Journal of Radiation Biology, 2022
Orla Howe, Fiona M. Lyng, Carmel Mothersill
The facilities of the FOCAS Research Institute were further developed under PRTLI Cycle 4 (2007–2013), co-funded by the EU Regional Development Fund, as DIT became a partner in the Integrated NanoScience Platform for Ireland and the National Biophotonics and Imaging Platform Ireland. This saw the further development of RESC research into biophotonics/imaging and nanotoxicology but our radiation research remained a core focus and our efforts on bystander signaling pathways continued.
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