Equal to The Future

MARCIA STAMELL, ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR, marcia.stamell @photonics.com

The image created by label-free multimodal, multiphoton microscopy on the cover is part of one lab’s contribution to the development of a more accurate and faster means of conducting biopsies. This particular image comes from the Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. But, writes laboratory head Stephen Boppart in this month’s Biopinion, the optical biopsy is a widely shared biophotonics dream. Realizing the dream, he says, will be aided by advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning, as well as by those in optical microscopy.

Success is not only possible, it’s likely, says Boppart. But the realization of this one dream, and the acceptance of the digital pathology that will make it possible, will bring with it new questions and new ways of seeing things. The time to prepare for that future is now. His essay, “Optical biopsies can transform pathology,” (read article).

The promise of the future is also at the heart of an article by Zeev Zalesky of Contin-Use Biometrics, winner of the 2018 Prism Award for medical diagnostics and therapies. The award-winning SmartHealth Mod is the first photonic sensor capable of continuously monitoring heart rate, respiration and blood pressure at a distance. Zalesky’s lab at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, has uncovered some promising future capabilities for the smartphone-based technology. These will pave the way to performing biomedical diagnosis via remote photonics sensing. “Remote Noninvasive Sensor Monitors Multiple Bioparameters” (read article).

Elsewhere in the magazine:

• Darryl McCoy and Marco Arrigoni of Coherent Inc. write about applications within and outside of the field of neuroscience for multiphoton microscopy and tunable ultrafast lasers. Besides applications, the story compares the best uses for two kinds of ultrafast lasers. “Multiphoton Microscopy Sets the Standard for Live-Cell Imaging” (read article).

• Contributing Editor Marie Freebody surveys the advances single-molecule spectroscopy is making in a wide range of fields. These include DNA sequencing and understanding how cells, drugs, genes or proteins interact. “SMS Reveals Hidden Behaviors” (read article).

• Nishant Mohan of Wasatch Photonics reviews the comparative strengths and weaknesses of the two main variations of Fourier-domain OCT: spectral-domain and swept-source. He also reports on a new development in spectral-domain OCT that is opening up new uses for this technology. “Vying for Dominance: Swept-Source vs. Spectral-Domain OCT” (read article).

Enjoy the issue.