Source: Laser Focus World May

Rudolph Technologies (Flanders, NJ), a provider of process characterization equipment and software for optical thin-film measurement and macro defect inspection, has become the first semiconductor equipment supplier company to join Sematech’s (Albany, NY) Metrology Program headquartered at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany. Sematech, a consortium of chipmakers, said that under the membership agreement, Rudolph and Sematech will jointly establish an International Process Characterization (IPC) program aimed at the development of process, analysis, and characterization technology to address critical challenges in nanoelectronics research.

Source: Laser Focus World May

Microscopes have given scientists vital insight into living things ever since Robert Hooke and Antoni van Leeuwenhoek discovered the microscopic world in the 17th century. Now the quest for better views of living cells is pushing development of new types of optical microscopy that overcome the traditional limitations without sacrificing the advantages of visible light.

The resolution of conventional optical microscopy is inherently limited to roughly half the wavelength and suffers from limited contrast in brightness and refractive index between cell components, making it hard to resolve fine details. But visible wavelengths also have important advantages. They can penetrate cells and tissue, allowing examination of internal structures. Unlike shorter-wavelength light or electron microscopy, optical microscopy doesn’t kill cells or require pretreatment that kills them, allowing in vivo studies. Thanks to these advantages, roughly 80% of life-science microscopy is done with conventional optics and lenses.

To know more, click here.

Pour visualiser le numero de May, cliquer ici.

STORM illuminates living cells in multiple dimensions, p.10

Femtosecond lasers make single cell nanosurgery a reality, p.12

No boost for biomedical funding in FY2009,

Adaptive Imaging takes tissue imaging to the next level, p.32: on y parle d”imagine Optic et de UCSF! BRAVO!

Source: HS Daily Wire

DHS awards millions to bolster security fo rail, truck, and bus transportation; department says awards are strictly risk-based

DHS announced Thursday more than $844 million in grant awards as part of its Infrastructure Protection Activities (IPA) grant program. Grant awards aims to strengthen security at ports and enhance transit, trucking, and intercity bus systems. Funds provided will be used to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies. “With this year’s funding, the department will have provided roughly $3 billion in grants for securing the nation’s critical infrastructure and transportation systems,” said DHS secretary Michael Chertoff. “As capabilities mature, we’re encouraging state and local governments and the private sector to prioritize IED prevention and protection, communications capabilities, information sharing, and regionally based security cooperation.”

Fiscal Year 2008 IPA awards represent a 29 percent increase from last year. To know more about the grants, click here.

Source:Laser Focus World

Meter-scale optical elements present a set of unique challenges, not just in fabrication but also to ensure conformance to specification. Dynamic interferometry offers speed and flexibility for this complex quality-assurance process.

To know more, click here.

Source: Biophotonics.com

Des news de Rick Trebino….

A device that reveals spherical aberrations in optical components could help biologists, chemists, and other nonlaser scientists easily measure complicated ultrashort laser pulses.

Lasers that emit ultrashort pulses of light are used for applications including micromachining, microscopy, laser eye surgery, spectroscopy and controlling chemical reactions. But the quality of the results is limited by distortions caused by lenses and other optical components that are part of the experimental instrumentation.

To better understand the distortions, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology developed the first device to directly measure complex ultrashort light pulses in space and time at and near the focus. Measuring the pulse at the focus is important because that’s where the beam is most intense and where researchers typically utilize it. Knowing how the light is distorted allows researchers to correct for the aberrations by changing a lens or using a pulse shaper or compressor to manipulate the pulse into the desired form.

To read more, click here.

Source: Military and Aerospace

he U.S. Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., is choosing Sensors Unlimited Inc. in Princeton, N.J., to develop next-generation night-vision sensor technology for helmet-mounted and micro vehicle applications. Sensors Unlimited is part of the Goodrich Corp. ISR Systems division in Charlotte, N.C

Under terms of a 3-year contract, Sensors Unlimited will design and build prototypes of sensitive lightweight imaging cameras based on the company’s commercial shortwave infrared (SWIR) sensors. Sensors Unlimited is doing the work under supervision of DARPA’s MicroSensors for Imaging (MISI) program.

Sensors Unlimited engineers will develop indium gallium arsenide-night vision (InGaAs-NV) SWIR sensors into a 640-by-512-pixel resolution camera, which weighs less than 10 grams, for hand-launched unmanned aerial vehicles. In addition, the company will deliver a 1280-by-1024-pixel head-mounted monocular.

SWIR technology detects reflected light at wavelengths that the human eye cannot see. It works in wavelength bands between visible and thermal cameras, an area that current night-vision technology cannot see.

To know more, click here.

Source: Spectroscopy now

The application of optical noninvasive methods in dermatology and cosmetology is discussed, laser scanning microscopy and optical coherent tomography being the most promising methods for this application.

Abstract: In the present paper the application of optical noninvasive methods in dermatology and cosmetology is discussed. Laser scanning microscopy (LSM) and optical coherent tomography (OCT) are the most promising methods for this application. Using these methods, the analysis of different skin parameters like dryness and oiliness of the skin, the barrier function and the structure of furrows and wrinkles are discussed. Additionally the homogeneity of distribution of topically applied creams, as well as their penetration into the skin were investigated. It is shown that these methods are highly valuable in dermatology for diagnostic and therapy control and for basic research, for instance in the field of structure analysis of hair follicles and sweat glands.

Source: Laser Focus World May

magine having the opportunity to stand before the Mona Lisa — sans her plexiglass cage, up close and personal, in the basement of the Louvre — and bathe her in coherent blue light, hoping to discover the secrets behind that infamous smile. What minerals and dyes might the pigment contain? What binding agents were used? How much does the final painting differ from the original sketch underneath, and how many layers did it take to create this masterpiece? Did someone — perhaps even Da Vinci himself — at some point alter the original, for reasons we might never know?

In 2004, researchers from the National Research Council (NRC; Ottawa, ON, Canada) took their 3-D laser scanning equipment to the Louvre in Paris, France, to generate the most detailed analysis to date of the famous painting, providing new information about the wood panel on which it was painted, Da Vinci’s technique, and his original concept for the composition (see Fig. 1 and www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/277172). It took more than a year to analyze all the data gathered in two days of scanning, but the results were amazing, according to Francois Blaise, group leader, visual information technology at the NRC Institute for Information Technology. Blaise was instrumental in developing the equipment used on the Mona Lisa and in other 3-D laser-scanning projects at the Louvre, the British Museum (London), and historic sites in Canada and Europe, such as the Acropolis in Athens.

To know more, click here.

Takeda’s quest to expand in the U.S. market–and off-set expiring patents on big drugs–continues. The Japanese company announced today a $1 billion alliance with RNAi company Alnylam. The deal covers RNAi therapeutics in the fields of oncology and metabolic disease with the option to expand to additional therapeutic areas in the future. Alnylam gets $100 million in up-front and additional $50 million in near-term technology transfer payments. Takeda can expand the partnership in the future to include additional fields, with a payment of $50 million to Alnylam for each additional field. Finally, Alnylam will receive $171 million in milestones, along with royalties, for each product developed as part of the deal.

“We believe this alliance will accelerate our initiatives to establish the foundation for RNAi drug discovery supported by Alnylam’s platform technologies and know-how. We expect that our product portfolio will be enhanced by the addition of RNAi therapeutics to our current small molecule and anti-body research platforms,” said Takeda’s president Yasuchika Hasegawa. Just two months ago Takeda forked over $8.8 billion dollars to buy Millennium Pharmaceuticals, bolstering its oncology pipeline.

Here’s Takeda’s release

Courtesy Fierce Biotech

The MBC’s Annual Meeting was held May 20, 2008

Keynote speaker was by Paul Levy, President and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. You’ll find his blog of interest if you wish to learn more about the inefficiencies of running a hospital and the things that can be done to improve patient care and make it more cost effective. Considering that the US healthcare system is more of a consumer driven model where patients feel healthcare is a right, the differences between such a system and the universal one is vast. You’ll find the blog here:

http://runningahospital.blogspot.com

The following panel was also closely related with the health care industry and the trends of personalized medicine.

The panelists commented on what the future of this personalization and how it has the potential to cuts costs, making it more efficient. One of the main points that Dr. Freeman noted in order to make R&D continue to move in the right direction and allow patients to access more medication is the need for participants in the clinical trials. While Boston may be a leading center for research, the lack of human participation in clinical trials has also created a slowdown in being able to bring drugs to active use.

Mara Aspinall, Senior Advisor, Genzyme Corp and Past President, Genzyme Genetics
Elan Ezickson, Chief Business Officer, AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Mason Freeman, M.D., Clinical Director of Adult Medical Genetics, Massachusetts General Hospital
Gautam Jaggi, Senior Manager, Ernst & Young Global Biotechnology Center

Following this announcements were made for new Board Members and the New Chairman.

Massachusetts life sciences companies attract investors
Investors continue to infuse money into Massachusetts’ life sciences startups despite recent challenges in the credit and stock markets. OmniGuide has raised $25 million in venture financing, while Concert Pharmaceuticals has received $37 million. The biotech industry is a “great source of innovation” for drugmakers seeking new products and technologies, a Fidelity Biosciences official said. The Boston Globe (5/15)

Courtesy: BioSmartBrief

Source: Photonics.com

Mel Engle has been named CEO of ultrashort-pulse (USP) laser maker Raydiance Inc., of Petaluma, Calif., He succeeds company founder Barry Schuler, who is now executive chairman of the board, the company announced today. The changes were effective May 5. Engle was formerly president and CEO of the Merck KGaA subsidiary Dey LP, a Napa-based specialty pharmaceutical company developing products for respiratory, allergy and other breathing disorders. While CEO of Dey LP, Engle was regional director, North America, for Merck Generics Group and was a member of the Merck Generics Executive Management Committee (EMC). Previously, he was a senior executive with Allergan Inc. In 2007, he was named Citizen of the Year by the Napa Chamber of Commerce and the State of California.

Source: Photonics Spectra and MSN Money

DRS Technologies, Inc. DRS announced today that it received a $19 million, five-year indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract from the United States Naval Surface Warfare Center, in Crane, Indiana, to provide the U.S. Marine Corps with vehicle Vision Enhancement Systems (VES). The Marine Corps will incorporate the systems onto their Joint Assault Bridge (JAB) vehicles.

The work will start immediately, executed by the company’s DRS Sensors & Targeting Systems - California Division in Cypress, California.

(…) The VES consists of four uncooled infrared thermal imaging sensors, one display, one wide field-of-view monochrome CCD, and one control interface box. It is designed to provide 165-degree situational awareness, enhancing the forward vision of the driver and commander during movement, bridge launch and recovery operations, and under conditions of limited visibility such as night, dust, smoke, or fog.

To know more, click here.

Source: Photonics Spectra

Most Fabry-Perot interferometers in optical fiber are intrinsic; that is, they are formed in the fiber core between a pair of reflectors. The alternative is an extrinsic Fabry-Perot, which is formed in the air between two sections of the fiber core. Sensors based on either type of Fabry-Perot can detect a change in strain or temperature, which causes the length of the interferometer to change and thereby changes its resonant frequency.

However, fabricating an extrinsic Fabry-Perot entails complex microassembly of various components, which is time-consuming and expensive and results in a device that is less robust than a monolithic intrinsic fiber Fabry-Perot. Nonetheless, extrinsic Fabry-Perot systems have one distinct advantage over their intrinsic brethren: They can serve as chemical sensors. If the air in an extrinsic Fabry-Perot is replaced by another chemical, the interferometer’s resonant frequency will shift as a result of the chemical’s refractive index.(more)

A new life sciences industry trade show is coming to Massachusetts next year focused largely on the state’s medical device industry, bringing with it an expected infusion of millions of dollars into the state’s economy.

Dubbed BIOMEDevice, the event will be held April 22-23, 2009, at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Los Angeles-based trade show events producer Canon Communications LLC, a privately owned company, will be putting on the two-day show, working closely with the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council, or MassMedic.

Full article: Click Here

Mark Hollmer can be reached at mhollmer@bizjournals.com. (Courtesy www.bizjournals.com)

Source: Space War

Northrop Grumman has been selected by the U.S. Army to continue development of the Passive Infrared Cueing System (PICS), a cost-effective ground threat warning system that can locate, cue, and classify potential threats from tank fire, rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank guided missiles.

“This rugged, easy-to-use, and cost-effective sensor system will provide military personnel with earlier warning and improved identification of potential threats. With its combination of fast and accurate detection, PICS will fill a key capability for the U.S. military,” said Steve McCoy, Advanced Programs director.

“PICS is intended to alert Army commanders in a matter of milliseconds of the location of a potential ground-based threat launch to enable defensive systems to effectively neutralize the threat,” he said.

Under the contract for the second phase of the program, Northrop Grumman will demonstrate 360-degree sensor coverage while on the move at the Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Ariz. The goal is to complete the PICS program with a Technology Readiness Level 6 (TRL-6) system prototype. Northrop Grumman demonstrated a similar capability from a stationary location in a previous phase.

To know more, click here.

Source: HS Daily Wire

The multibillion-dollar border security market is readying for one of its premier event, the second annual Global Border Security Conference & Expo, to be held 21-22 May in Austin, Texas. More than 1,000 stakeholders from the public and private sectors will gather for GBS 2008, taking part in a conference and exposition which build on the success of the inaugural GBS event, which was held in May 2007 in San Antonio, Texas, but which also offer many new features.

To know more, click here.

Source: The Mil and Aero Blog

At the GovSec show in Washington last week many of the exhibitors felt the market to be strong and growing but not a boom like it was perceived to be when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was formed shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

We thought it might be stronger market as well when we launched Homeland Security Solutions magazine and a show of the same name. It turned out that while there was a lot of buzz instead of targeting technology development, most funding was spent on overtime and other “boots and bullets” costs, which were a much more immediate concern.

Over the last few years we and from what I saw last week the industry has learned that homeland security is different than defense. Whereas primes, subcontractors, and the media originally foresaw the DHS as a Department of Defense (DOD) like entity it was in fact quite different.

To know more, click here.

Source: Photonics.com

Zygo Corp.’s reputation for state-of-the-art interferometry is well known throughout the world. For almost four decades, however, the company has also been manufacturing high-precision optical components and systems serving applications ranging from laser eye surgery to aerial reconnaissance, becoming one of the largest and most advanced suppliers of laser fusion optics in the world.

Given the corporation’s growth and strength in OEM optics, several internal business units were consolidated in 2007 to form what is now the Zygo Optical Systems Division. Comprised of two major groups, Optical Components and Electro-Optics, the division has facilities in Connecticut, Arizona, and California.

Zygo Optical Systems Div.’s facility in Tucson, which boasts Class 100 cleanroom capabilities, is ISO certified and FDA registered.

The 45,000-sq-ft facility in Tucson, Ariz., boasts Class 100 cleanroom capabilities, in-line production optical compensation, DFMA engineering services, is ISO 9001:2000 and 13485-2003 certified, and FDA registered, making it the ideal location for high-precision system manufacturing.

To know more, click here.

Source: Biophotonics.com

Detecting dangerous chemicals with lasers, exploring the brain’s circuitry with light, and photoluminescence with nanoneedles will be among the latest breakthroughs in electro-optics, lasers and the application of light waves presented at the 2008 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics/Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference (CLEO/QELS) May 4-9 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose.

CLEO, one of the largest exhibitions in the photonics industry, is geared toward laser topics and the electro-optics community and held in conjunction with QELS and the Conference on Photonic Applications, Systems and Technologies (PhAST). The technical presentations attract many to the event, and this year nearly 6000 researchers from around the world will participate.

Scientists presenting CLEO/QELS plenary talks can expect to attract large crowds, as will a symposium in honor of the inventor of the first operable laser and two-time Nobel Prize nominee Theodore Maiman (See also: Maiman Tribute Set at CLEO)

The work of Federico Capasso and his colleagues at Harvard University will be presented in their new paper, ”Continuously Tunable Compact Single-Mode Quantum Cascade Laser Source for Chemical Sensing.” They are developing a new type of infrared spectrometer that could be just as powerful as today’s bulky spectrometry instruments for chemical detection, yet fit inside a shoe box. Instead of using thermal sources for the infrared rays, Capasso’s team powered their instrument with a tiny array of infrared quantum cascade lasers on a chip smaller than a dime.

The chip holds an array of 32 lasers, each emitting a distinct wavelength and together covering a broad spectral range in the infrared region, and the scientists demonstrated that this small device could identify common chemicals as well as the conventional tabletop instrument. It is the first time that a laser of this type, capable of such performance, has been reported. The advantage of using a laser source is that lasers are much brighter than thermal sources and provide a higher signal-to-noise ratio. The lasers can also be fine-tuned to provide wavelengths on demand to scan accurately for chemicals of interest.

To know more click here.

Source: Laser Focus World

Femtosecond fiber lasers have been used in laser ablation experiments to successfully generate various nanoparticles with controllable physical properties such as morphological forms and alloy compositions.

To know more, click here.

May 6, 2008

The annual massmedic meeting was today where remarks were made by the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts this year. He commented on the Life Science initiative which is set to be complete in the next year. Much of the focus was to attract businesses to MA and push for research while creating collaborations with those in fast growing areas such as China.

Tom Sommer also made announcements about the new Board members for Massmedic.

Individual presentations were made by both Covidien, which was started as a division of Tyco Healthcare
to now become a $9B company. A company presentation followed with strategic initiatives by Amy Wendell.

Following Covidien, Becton Dickinson CEO, Edward J. Ludwig spoke about the future of medical device innovation and about the social responsibility initiatives that BD takes along with company history.

Finally was the the President and CEO of the Boston Red Sox, Larry Lucchino who talked about the Red Sox going forward and answered questions. He also noted the amount of support/sponsorship that the team has received from the prominent medical device community.

Haleem J. Issaq and Timothy D. Veenstra

Abstract
The recent trend in science is to assay as many biological molecules as possible within a single experiment. This trend is evident in proteomics where the aim is to characterize thousands of proteins within cells, tissues, and organisms. While advances in mass spectrometry have been critical, developments made in two-dimensional PAGE (2D-PAGE) have also played a major role in enabling proteomics. In this review, we discuss and highlight the advances made in 2D-PAGE over the past 25 years that have made it a foundational tool in proteomic research.

You can find the full text article here courtesy Biotechniques: Gel article

Bernhard Suter, Saranya Kittanakom, and Igor Stagljar

Abstract
Interactive proteomics addresses the physical associations among proteins and establishes global, disease-, and pathway-specific protein interaction networks. The inherent chemical and structural diversity of proteins, their different expression levels, and their distinct subcellular localizations pose unique challenges for the exploration of these networks, necessitating the use of a variety of innovative and ingenious approaches. Consequently, recent years have seen exciting developments in protein interaction mapping and the establishment of very large interaction networks, especially in model organisms. In the near future, attention will shift to the establishment of interaction networks in humans and their application in drug discovery and understanding of diseases. In this review, we present an impressive toolbox of different technologies that we expect to be crucial for interactive proteomics in the coming years.

You can find full text article here courtesy Biotechniques: Proteomics article

Vladimir Ratushny and Erica A. Golemis

Abstract
In 1983, while investigators had identified a few human proteins as important regulators of specific biological outcomes, how these proteins acted in the cell was essentially unknown in almost all cases. Twenty-five years later, our knowledge of the mechanistic basis of protein action has been transformed by our increasingly detailed understanding of protein-protein interactions, which have allowed us to define cellular machines. The advent of the yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) system in 1989 marked a milestone in the field of proteomics. Exploiting the modular nature of transcription factors, the Y2H system allows facile measurement of the activation of reporter genes based on interactions between two chimeric or “hybrid” proteins of interest. After a decade of service as a leading platform for individual investigators to use in exploring the interaction properties of interesting target proteins, the Y2H system has increasingly been applied in high-throughput applications intended to map genome-scale protein-protein interactions for model organisms and humans. Although some significant technical limitations apply, Y2H has made a great contribution to our general understanding of the topology of cellular signaling networks.

You can find the full text article here: Y2h-article

Biotech an increasingly attractive investment
The life sciences industry had a strong year in 2007, with a record amount of money and deals in biotech and medical devices, said the president of the National Venture Capital Association. The abundance of capital could create a dilution of returns, one expert says, but adds that valuations for later-stage biotech has risen significantly in the past five years. American City Business Journals/Boston (4/18)

Courtesy: BIO Smartbrief