What will be the next successful commercial application of optical coherence tomography (OCT)? "I expect it will be GI (gastrointestinal) or perhaps pulmonary" imaging, says Greg Smolka, author of the research report Optical Coherence Tomography 2010: Technology, Applications, and Markets.
In a webcast today, Smolka talked about signs to look for to determine which application is really gaining traction. He also recapped some recent progress in technology (e.g., combining OCT with other imaging modalities) and markets/applications (the FDA approved OCT for 3 additional specialty applications in 2010-and more approvals are coming).
Listening to Smolka's presentation, I was reminded how truly important OCT is--how its speed and resolution empower medical clinicians in critical ways. And though it's made an enormous impact in ophthalmology already, its true utility has yet to be understood. Get ready for a fascinating ride.
Those registered for the event can get a 20% discount on a report ordered within 2 weeks of today's broadcast (courtesy of Strategies Unlimited). The full presentation itself will be posted within 24 hours.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Previewed at BiOS ’11--Part 1
During BiOS/Photonics West 2011, I got to see a number of newly released products (see recent new product postings and stay tuned for later blog entries)--and to preview products not yet available.
During BiOS/Photonics West 2011, I got to see a number of newly released products (see recent new product postings and stay tuned for later blog entries)--and to preview products not yet available.
For instance, I learned about the latest version of Imagine Eyes’s rtx1 Adaptive Optics Retinal Camera, for which they had just received the first orders. The first device of its kind as far as I know, it features automated adaptive optics and captures en face cellular-level images of the retina in vivo without pupil dilation. It reportedly can discern things that optical coherence tomography (OCT) and scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO) cannot, and produces 1200 x 1200 micron images that can be tiled together to view larger areas. Imagine Eyes is now marketing to researchers, and expects FDA approval in about a year. Meantime the company is building a morphological image database and gathering feedback from clinical partners including France’s national ophthalmic center.
During BiOS/Photonics West 2011, I got to see a number of newly released products (see recent new product postings and stay tuned for later blog entries)--and to preview products not yet available.
For instance, I learned about the latest version of Imagine Eyes’s rtx1 Adaptive Optics Retinal Camera, for which they had just received the first orders. The first device of its kind as far as I know, it features automated adaptive optics and captures en face cellular-level images of the retina in vivo without pupil dilation. It reportedly can discern things that optical coherence tomography (OCT) and scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO) cannot, and produces 1200 x 1200 micron images that can be tiled together to view larger areas. Imagine Eyes is now marketing to researchers, and expects FDA approval in about a year. Meantime the company is building a morphological image database and gathering feedback from clinical partners including France’s national ophthalmic center.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Report from Biomedical Optics Symposium (BiOS)/Photonics West--Part 2
Even though it most definitely exists, “the cost benefit of most clinical biophotonics technology is not well documented,” said Brian C. Wilson (Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto) in his informative presentation during Monday's Lasers and Photonics Marketplace Seminar.
Even though it most definitely exists, “the cost benefit of most clinical biophotonics technology is not well documented,” said Brian C. Wilson (Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto) in his informative presentation during Monday's Lasers and Photonics Marketplace Seminar.
On Tuesday, two plenary sessions took place: Frances S. Ligler, the Navy’s Senior Scientist for Biosensors and Biomaterials and current Chair of the Bioengineering Section of the National Academy of Engineering, presented a Perspective on the Future of Optical Biosensors. And Harold G. Craighead, Director of the Nanobiotechnology Center at Cornell University, explored the use of nanostructures for biological research.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Report from Biomedical Optics Symposium (BiOS)/Photonics West--Part 1
Tonight's Hot Topics session packed a lot of information—and innovation—into just over 2 hours. It included a tribute not originally planned, but certainly appropriate, in honor of Britton Chance, who passed away in November 2010. Bruce Tromberg (University of California Irvine) and Arjun Yodh (University of Pennsylvania) concluded their homage to the prolific researcher by proposing a new unit of measurement: the Britton Chance Unit (BCU), equal to 100 milliwatts/square cm, which is the maximum exposure intensity for biological tissue damage.
Tonight's Hot Topics session packed a lot of information—and innovation—into just over 2 hours. It included a tribute not originally planned, but certainly appropriate, in honor of Britton Chance, who passed away in November 2010. Bruce Tromberg (University of California Irvine) and Arjun Yodh (University of Pennsylvania) concluded their homage to the prolific researcher by proposing a new unit of measurement: the Britton Chance Unit (BCU), equal to 100 milliwatts/square cm, which is the maximum exposure intensity for biological tissue damage.
Tomorrow (Sunday) will see the unveiling of an International Microcirculation Imaging Lab by a panel of researchers from key facilities in Europe and North America. “The vital role of the microcirculation in every organ of the body provides extraordinary opportunities for health impact, especially personalized healthcare,” says Martin Leahy, a conference chair. He explains that the ability of optical technologies to now provide “exquisite 3D images of the smallest blood vessels at clinically important depths,” enable detection of changes before any clinical signs, and prediction the onset of blindness and ulceration.
Also on the agenda for Sunday is an invited presentation by the Northwestern University team that recently proved able to detect early signs of lung cancer in humans by examining cells scraped from the patients’ cheeks.
Tonight's Hot Topics session packed a lot of information—and innovation—into just over 2 hours. It included a tribute not originally planned, but certainly appropriate, in honor of Britton Chance, who passed away in November 2010. Bruce Tromberg (University of California Irvine) and Arjun Yodh (University of Pennsylvania) concluded their homage to the prolific researcher by proposing a new unit of measurement: the Britton Chance Unit (BCU), equal to 100 milliwatts/square cm, which is the maximum exposure intensity for biological tissue damage.
Tomorrow (Sunday) will see the unveiling of an International Microcirculation Imaging Lab by a panel of researchers from key facilities in Europe and North America. “The vital role of the microcirculation in every organ of the body provides extraordinary opportunities for health impact, especially personalized healthcare,” says Martin Leahy, a conference chair. He explains that the ability of optical technologies to now provide “exquisite 3D images of the smallest blood vessels at clinically important depths,” enable detection of changes before any clinical signs, and prediction the onset of blindness and ulceration.
Also on the agenda for Sunday is an invited presentation by the Northwestern University team that recently proved able to detect early signs of lung cancer in humans by examining cells scraped from the patients’ cheeks.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Gearing up for Biomedical Optics Symposium (BiOS)/Photonics West--Part 2
The tribute to MIT's Michael S. Feld, which will kick off the BiOS Hot Topics session on Saturday night, will be followed by seven other presentations, including one by David Huang, a pioneer of optical coherence tomography, who will discuss new OCT developments impacting that technology’s original application: Ophthalmology.
The tribute to Michael S. Feld, which will kick off the BiOS Hot Topics session on Saturday night, will be followed by seven other presentations, including one by David Huang, a pioneer of optical coherence tomography, who will discuss new OCT developments impacting that technology’s original application: Ophthalmology.
In addition, we'll get to hear about fluorescence lifetime techniques for intravascular diagnostics (presented by Laura Marcu of the University of California/Davis), using light to control the brain (by MIT’s Ed Boyden), and novel uses of femtosecond laser pulses (by Harvard’s Eric Mazur), and clinical multiphoton tomography (by Karsten Koenig, of Saarland University and JenLab GmbH—who won a 2010 Berthold Leibinger award 2010 Berthold Leibinger award for this work). Paras Prasad, of the University of Buffalo, will discuss a multiplex platform for analyzing macromolecular dynamics in live cells (while on Sunday, Prasad will deliver a keynote exploring the impact of multiphoton microscopy and multimodal imaging on 21st century healthcare).
Also part of Hot Topics will be a presentation by Alexander Oraevsky of Fairway Medical Technologies on 3-D optoacoustic tomography. While photoacoustics technology is only just beginning to enter the commercial market, it is an area of great interest and dynamism: The BiOS “Photons Plus Ultrasound” conference attracted nearly 30% more papers and almost 40% greater audience in 2010, over already-impressive increases in 2009. This year, Oraevsky chairs a Tuesday session on novel methods and technologies that will include a University of Michigan team discussing a photonic crystal-metallic structure able to produce an ultrasound signal at nearly the same frequency spectrum as the input laser pulse.
The tribute to Michael S. Feld, which will kick off the BiOS Hot Topics session on Saturday night, will be followed by seven other presentations, including one by David Huang, a pioneer of optical coherence tomography, who will discuss new OCT developments impacting that technology’s original application: Ophthalmology.
In addition, we'll get to hear about fluorescence lifetime techniques for intravascular diagnostics (presented by Laura Marcu of the University of California/Davis), using light to control the brain (by MIT’s Ed Boyden), and novel uses of femtosecond laser pulses (by Harvard’s Eric Mazur), and clinical multiphoton tomography (by Karsten Koenig, of Saarland University and JenLab GmbH—who won a 2010 Berthold Leibinger award 2010 Berthold Leibinger award for this work). Paras Prasad, of the University of Buffalo, will discuss a multiplex platform for analyzing macromolecular dynamics in live cells (while on Sunday, Prasad will deliver a keynote exploring the impact of multiphoton microscopy and multimodal imaging on 21st century healthcare).
Also part of Hot Topics will be a presentation by Alexander Oraevsky of Fairway Medical Technologies on 3-D optoacoustic tomography. While photoacoustics technology is only just beginning to enter the commercial market, it is an area of great interest and dynamism: The BiOS “Photons Plus Ultrasound” conference attracted nearly 30% more papers and almost 40% greater audience in 2010, over already-impressive increases in 2009. This year, Oraevsky chairs a Tuesday session on novel methods and technologies that will include a University of Michigan team discussing a photonic crystal-metallic structure able to produce an ultrasound signal at nearly the same frequency spectrum as the input laser pulse.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Gearing up for Biomedical Optics Symposium (BiOS)/Photonics West--Part 1
This weekend I'll be attending the Biomedical Optics Symposium (BiOS), which now represents 45% of the educational content at Photonics West. Saturday night will find me at the appropriately named Hot Topics plenary, which promises to deliver "the latest technical breakthroughs and directions from leading worldwide experts.” Each year, this plenary showcases some of the most interesting work underway—mostly in research, but also in the commercial realm.
This weekend I'll be attending the Biomedical Optics Symposium (BiOS), which now represents 45% of the educational content at Photonics West. Saturday night will find me at the appropriately named Hot Topics plenary, which promises to deliver "the latest technical breakthroughs and directions from leading worldwide experts.” Each year, this plenary showcases some of the most interesting work underway—mostly in research, but also in the commercial realm.
This year’s Hot Topics will begin with a tribute to Michael Feld, the MIT professor who pioneered the application of spectroscopy to biomedicine. Not long after BiOS 2010, Feld lost his battle with cancer, but his presence is still with us, as will be demonstrated in a discussion of recent work that promises to overcome obstacles to the long-anticipated promise of noninvasive glucose monitoring and tomographic cell imaging.
This weekend I'll be attending the Biomedical Optics Symposium (BiOS), which now represents 45% of the educational content at Photonics West. Saturday night will find me at the appropriately named Hot Topics plenary, which promises to deliver "the latest technical breakthroughs and directions from leading worldwide experts.” Each year, this plenary showcases some of the most interesting work underway—mostly in research, but also in the commercial realm.
This year’s Hot Topics will begin with a tribute to Michael Feld, the MIT professor who pioneered the application of spectroscopy to biomedicine. Not long after BiOS 2010, Feld lost his battle with cancer, but his presence is still with us, as will be demonstrated in a discussion of recent work that promises to overcome obstacles to the long-anticipated promise of noninvasive glucose monitoring and tomographic cell imaging.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Researchers' holographic video technique has commercial competition
I was intrigued to learn about the technique developed by scientists at New York University to record 3D movies of microscopic systems, such as biological molecules, using holographic video. They describe the method, detailed in a recent Optics Express paper, as a label-free approach to flow cytometry—and say it could improve medical diagnostics and drug discovery. Then I learned of a commercial instrument claiming the same capabilities.
I was intrigued to learn about the technique developed by scientists at New York University to record 3D movies of microscopic systems, such as biological molecules, using holographic video. Researchers in Professor David Grier's lab describe the method, which they detailed in a recent Optics Express paper, as a label-free approach to flow cytometry. They say it could improve medical diagnostics and drug discovery.
Then I learned that a commercial instrument claiming the same capabilities has been in existence for more than five years. The Digital Holographic Microscope, manufactured by Lyncee Tec (Lausanne, Switzerland) and distributed in the US by NanoAndMore USA, Inc., comes in reflection mode and transmission mode models. The former has some unique features including a 25MHz stroboscopic mode that allows stop-action in the nanosecond range. It can map movement and show the influence of changing variables in real-time. "There is nothing else commercially available that can do this," NanoAndMore CEO George C. McMurtry told me. In addition, he said, the commercial instrument "does exactly what Professor David Grier’s group had to make from scratch." McMurtry added, "We are trying to get the pharmaceutical companies and university researchers to realize that this instrument exists and can greatly speed up their research efforts."
I was intrigued to learn about the technique developed by scientists at New York University to record 3D movies of microscopic systems, such as biological molecules, using holographic video. Researchers in Professor David Grier's lab describe the method, which they detailed in a recent Optics Express paper, as a label-free approach to flow cytometry. They say it could improve medical diagnostics and drug discovery.
Then I learned that a commercial instrument claiming the same capabilities has been in existence for more than five years. The Digital Holographic Microscope, manufactured by Lyncee Tec (Lausanne, Switzerland) and distributed in the US by NanoAndMore USA, Inc., comes in reflection mode and transmission mode models. The former has some unique features including a 25MHz stroboscopic mode that allows stop-action in the nanosecond range. It can map movement and show the influence of changing variables in real-time. "There is nothing else commercially available that can do this," NanoAndMore CEO George C. McMurtry told me. In addition, he said, the commercial instrument "does exactly what Professor David Grier’s group had to make from scratch." McMurtry added, "We are trying to get the pharmaceutical companies and university researchers to realize that this instrument exists and can greatly speed up their research efforts."
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