BiOS 2012: Nothing uncertain about business in biophotonics

The Biomedical Optics Symposium (BiOS) of Photonics West 2012 opened yesterday. The number of papers has held steady from last year at about 1800--which James Fujimoto (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Rox Anderson (Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard School of Medicine) consider great in this "uncertain economy," they said while introducing last night's Hot Topics session. Vendors in the exhibit hall reported nothing uncertain about their life sciences business, though, and event organizers note that the exhibits grew 15% over last year's event.

A "how to" in probe selection by Mike Davidson

What are you wondering about fluorescent probes in advanced microscopy applications? Tomorrow you'll have the chance to ask an expert in the field.

Join me and Mike Davidson, who heads the optical microscopy department of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University, for an interactive webcast at 3pm ET. Mike will be advising us How to Choose Probes for Super-Resolution Microscopy (http://www.bioopticsworld.com/webcasts/2011/11/probes-for-super-resolution-microscopy.html), and his presentation will conclude with a Q&A session.

In recent years, life scientists have seen a dramatic advances in tools for fluorescent microscopy - both in terms of probes and instruments. The changes have enabled work previously only dreamed of: examination of molecular interactions with localization specificity, at resolutions approaching an order of magnitude beneath the classical diffraction limit.

Come hear Davidson, a renowned microscopist, discuss the various modes of super-resolution imaging and advances in probe development for each one - and bring your questions. Hope to see you there.

First optogenetics system

Optogenetics has been a hot topic at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting for the past few years. Now, with the 2011 edition, the event has seen the first introduction of an optogenetics-specific product.

The Spectralynx system aims to facilitate "a turnkey, out-of-the-box experience with optogenetic hardware and software," at a lower price than multiple-laser systems. Offering power OVER 100 mW/mm², the unit comes in two- (orange and blue) and four- (plus green and red) color versions. Both versions can be expanded up to seven colors, and all colors can be pulsed up to 5 kHz at full power.

The system, offered by Neuralynx (Bozeman, MT), was designed by Alex Cadotte, Ph.D., a biomedical engineer who used optogenetics for his neuroscience research in Pediatric Neurology at the University of Florida. Cadotte says that because no turnkey option existed, the learning curve for doing optogenetics was steep and time-consuming. Moving to industry, he sought to create an easy to use, integrated solution, and found a willing partner in Neuralynx, provider of recording systems for electrophysiology and neuroscience research.

Correlative microscopy a theme at Neuroscience 2011

One of the themes here at Neuroscience 2011 is correlative microscopy--the integration of electron and light microscopy--evidenced by yesterday's announcement that FEI Company, developer of electron and ion-beam microscopes, is acquiring Till Photonics from Toptica. The announcement came about one hour after the conclusion of a press conference by Carl Zeiss Microscopy--the company that has resulted from the merger of Carl Zeiss MicroImaging (which focused on light microscopy) with Carl Zeiss NTS (nanotechnology systems, focused on electron and charged-particle microscopy).

Drexler webcast looks at future of OCT

I'm excited that today (Monday, October 17) at 3 pm ET, Wolfgang Drexler, one of the scientists who pioneered optical coherence tomography (OCT) will deliver online his presentation that drew a standing room-only audience at the 2011 Laser World of Photonics event. Fasten your seatbelt--this is a fast-paced ride through the key technological and market developments that brought us to where we are today, and that portend the future of OCT and how it will likely impact medical imaging for a range of specialties.

Dr. Drexler is the Director of the Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University Vienna in Vienna, Austria.

Register now for the webcast so that even if you can't make it to the live event, you'll receive a link to the archive once it is posted: click here.

According to the report "Optical Coherence Tomography 2010: Technology, Applications, and Markets" by Strategies Unlimited, the global market for OCT grew from less than $10 million in 2001 to more than $275 million in 2009. By 2012 the market is expected to reach nearly $800 million.

Biomedical keynotes highlight top growth areas at Laser World of Photonics 2011

Laser World of Photonics 2011 definitely seemed larger than the 2009 event--and the final tally confirmed that indeed it was. The top two growth areas were medical technology and biophotonics, according to Messe Muenchen GmbH; this year’s conference and exhibition attracted not only 8% more visitors (for a total of 27,500) but also a record number of exhibitors (1100).

The event celebrated the 20th anniversary of optical coherence tomography (OCT) with a CLEO Europe and European Conference on Biomedical Optics (ECBO) co-sponsored technology and applications tutorial by OCT pioneer Jim Fujimoto. The MIT professor drew a standing-room-only crowd; so did the two ECBO plenary talks. One, by another OCT powerhouse, Wolfgang Drexler of the Medical University of Wein (Austria), whisked audience members through OCT history highlights, and painted an enthusiastic picture of future technology and market development.

The other ECBO plenary featured Prof. Mary-Ann Mycek of the University of Michigan (USA) discussing an optical spectroscopy technique that offers exciting promise for early detection of pancreatic cancer.

Ready for Laser World of Photonics 2011

Laser World of Photonics Congress, a biennial event, starts on May 23rd in Munich, Germany, and I'll be reporting from the show. A major focus of this huge expo and conference is biophotonics, as I discovered when I attended in 2009. One thing I enjoyed during that visit was the series of application panels in the exhibit hall that were offered in addition to the conference. Laser World of Photonics will offer these panels again this year, bringing technology developers together with clinicians for exploration of real needs that technology can help address. The life sciences panels will cover the application of biophotonics in four general areas:

+ Lasers for Analytical Bioinstrumentation and Bioimaging
+ Diagnostics and Therapy in Medicine
+ Visions for Future Diagnostics—Oncology
+ Visions for Future Diagnostics—Infectious Diseases

A number of exciting announcements emerged from the 2009 Laser World of Photonics Congress, including scientific CMOS (sCMOS), which has since hit the market in the form of cameras from Andor, Cooke, and Hamamatsu. Stay tuned to BioOptics World for news from the 2011 event!