Source: BioOptics World, July/August

The first commercial version of the highest resolution wide field light microscope is now in place at the University of California-Davis Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology (Sacramento, CA).

Called OMX (short for optical microscopy eXperimental), the system allows cellular processes to be viewed at the smallest possible levels - as they occur. It uses a new imaging technology, structured illumination, invented by Mats Gustafsson, a UC San Francisco post doctoral researcher.

(…)

The breast cancer reserach team at UC Davis plans to use OMX to closely evaluate cell changes that support the growth of malignancies.

See p.6

Source: Biophotonics International, August 2008

Technique reveals details not observable with other modalities

Using two deformable mirrors and a customized achromatizing lens, researchers at the university of California, Davis, have greatly impropved the resolution of ophtalmic optical coherence tomography (OCT), a mainstay in the clinical treatment of retinal and optic nerve disease. The instrument, which is in the research stage at present,m could offer clinicians the ability to detect and treat eye disease long before they can with existing technology.

To know more, read Biophotonics International, pp.36-37

Source: Biophotonics international, aout 2008

by William Telford, National Cancer Institute and Husein Imam, Koheras A/S

Supercontinuum white light lasers offer excitation of many fluorescent probes with one light source. p.24 a 27. L’article n’est pas encore disponible en ligne (version papier), mais nous le publierons asap.

(…) Flow citomerty would benefit considerably from a more flexible excitation source that could accommodate both routine analysis and newly developed fluorescent probes with unusual excitation characteristics. One potential answer to this problem is the supercontinuum white-light laser, a recently developed fiver leaser technology that emits continuously over a wide bandwidth from the near ultraviolet to the infrared.(…)

A noter: un autre article sur l’auteur de cet article, William Telford, et ses recherches ce mois-ci dans le numero de juillet/aout de BioOPtics World, p.20. Ce type a la cote…

BOSTON—Despite positive absorption of over 400,000 square feet, the vacancy rate for the Greater Boston commercial lab markets increased from 10.0% to 11.4% during the first half of 2008, according to a report on Massachusetts Life Sciences industry by Colliers Meredith & Grew. Tenant demand slowed somewhat, but the development pipeline remains active.

To read more…click here

Analysts: Big Pharma likely to keep seeking biotech buyouts
Major drugmakers are likely to continue seeking mergers and acquisitions in the biotech sector in the next few years, driven by a weak U.S. dollar and the need to boost product pipelines, said Terry Hisey, head of life sciences practice at Deloitte. Future buyout offers are expected to stay high as biotech companies try to assess the revenue potential of their drug candidates, another expert said. CNNMoney.com/Associated Press (8/20)

Courtesy BioSmartBrief

Source: photonics.com

This year’s SPIE Optics+Photonics symposium was the largest meeting of the annual symposium thus far. The show, which ends today, enjoyed sessions on nano and solar technologies, strategies for communication, and solid-state lighting and OLED innovations.


Attendees included experts in optical fabricators, lens design, software, optical fiber, optical test and measurement equipment, and optical materials, substrates and detectors.

The five-day event was divided into four technical conferences on the topics of nanoscience and engineering, solar energy, photonic devices and optical engineering. This year, 279 exhibitors filled the San Diego Convention Center to enjoy technologies and applications that provide essential knowledge for leading edge advances.

To know more, click here.

MIT lists top young scientists in biotechnology

By John Carroll
Courtesy: Fierce Biotech

Anyone looking for a peek at the top young minds in biotechnology should check out this year’s list of the 35 most innovative young scientists in the U.S. from MIT Technology Review. UC Berkeley’s Michelle Chang, for example, is investigating new, more efficient ways to make organic molecules. While Harvard’s Konrad Hochedlinger has helped improve the transformation of adult cells into stem cells. They are among the eight young brains who promise to help transform biotechnology.

–read the article in MIT Technology Review

Related Article:
CIRM offers $59M to inspire young scientists
US stands to lose a generation of young researchers

Source: optics.org

Zygo reported sales of $48.5 million for Q4 2008, up from $46.5 million for the equivalent quarter of 2007. Earnings dropped from $3.8 million to $1.1 million, as a result of higher operating expenses and marketing costs for the company’s semiconductor initiatives. The Optics Division accounted for 21% of orders received during the quarter. The company’s strategic shift from OEM products and optical components to higher revenue in-line production metrology tools and electro-optical assemblies continued during the year, but was negatively affected by the reduction in capital spending in the semiconductor manufacturing and display markets.

Source:BioOptics World

For much of the time since the introduction of OCT, a handful of companies have controlled most of the intellectual property and key patents. In the ophthalmology market, Carl Zeiss Meditec controls the key patent (US Patent 5,321,501) via its acquisition of Advanced Ophthalmic Devices, the company founded by the inventors of the technology at MIT. LightLab Imaging, which also grew out of the original MIT group, controls the patent for all medical applications outside of ophthalmology.

To know more, click here.

Source: photonics.com

Operations have been suspended at the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) following an accident there Wednesday night that left a senior lab engineer seriously injured.

The University of Rochester (UR) said in a statement released today that Sam Roberts, 32, was performing a routine operation in the vicinity of the Omega laser at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday when his coworkers heard a loud noise and found him under a heavy piece of equipment. They provided CPR until the West Brighton Fire Department arrived and transported him to Strong Memorial Hospital, where he was listed in guarded condition in intensive care Thursday afternoon.

To know more, click here.

magine Optic, pub pour MIRAO en page 89 de Laser Focus World

HGH, pub pour IMSPEC en page 130 de Laser Focus World

Source: Laser Focus World

Projection-display manufacturers are increasingly motivated to use brighter, more energy-efficient, and broader color-space laser illumination in applications ranging from digital cinema to mobile phone. One problem that must ve addressed is the artifact of speckle - bright and dark spots that arise in the image due to constructive and destructive interference in the coherent beam.

To reduce laser speckle, Dyoptyka (Dublin, Ireland) announced a “dynamic optics”solution that is an evolution of calssical adaptive optics. To know more, click here.