Inserting air into hot glass to form a bubble has been used to make glass objects since Roman times. In new work, researchers apply these same glass blowing principles on a microscopic scale to make specialized miniature cone-shaped lenses known as axicons. Axicons are used to shape laser light in a way that is beneficial for optical drilling, imaging and creating optical traps for manipulating particles or cells. These lenses have been known for more than 60 years, but their fabrication, especially when small, is not easy. "Our technique has the potential of producing robust miniature axicons in glass at ...

More than 40 billion capillaries -- tiny, hair-like blood vessels -- are tasked with carrying oxygen and nutrients to the far reaches of the human body. But despite their sheer number and monumental importance to basic functions and metabolism, not much is known about their inner workings. Now a Northwestern University team has developed a new tool that images blood flow through these tiny vessels, giving insight into this central portion of the human circulatory system. Called spectral contrast optical coherence tomography angiography (SC-OCTA), the 3D-imaging technique can detect subtle changes in capillary organization for early diagnosis of disease. "There has been ...

Although currently laser surgery is a very popular tool for various vision disorders correction, it is still difficult to ensure proper control over the accuracy, efficiency and safety of such procedures. Therefore, Russian scientists proposed a new method that helps to describe tissue changes after such operations. This method was described in a series of publications in the Journal of Biophotonics , Journal of Biomedical Optics and Laser Physics Letters . For the widespread and safe clinical use of lasers for eye surgeries, it is crucial to ensure high-precision control of the given shape of the fabric and its stability. At the ...

Researchers have used artificial intelligence to support the instant diagnosis of one of the top causes of blindness, diabetes-related eye disease, in its earliest stages. Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of vision loss in adults* and its impact is growing worldwide, with 191 million people set to be affected by 2030**. There are no early-stage symptoms and the disease may already be advanced by the time people start losing their sight. Early diagnosis and treatment can make a dramatic difference to how much vision a patient retains. Now a team of Australian-Brazilian researchers led by RMIT University have developed ...

Researchers at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, have created a noninvasive technology that detects when nerve cells fire based on changes in shape. The method could be used to observe nerve activity in light-accessible parts of the body, such as the eye, which would allow physicians to quantitatively monitor visual function at the cellular level. The study was published in the journal Light: Science and Applications . The work was funded by the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health. When nerves fire, there's a change in the electrical potential (trans-membrane voltage) in the cell. Current techniques ...

To understand cardiovascular failures, the leading cause of birth defect-related deaths in infants, UH professor of biomedical engineering Kirill Larin is teaming up with Baylor College of Medicine professor of cellular and molecular physiology Irina Larina on a chicken and egg hunt. "When the heart develops, it becomes stiffer as required for ability to contract and pump blood," said Larin. "So the question is - does it become stiff because it's contracting, or is it stiff to begin with because it is genetically predefined?" Surprisingly, very little is known about an embryo's developing heart. "Defining how these mechanical factors ...

Non-invasive stent monitoring techniques tested University of Barcelona IMAGE: Barcelona researchers team from the Research Institute Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP), the Biomedical Research Networking Center on Cardiovascular Diseases (CIBERCV), the University of Barcelona and the the Universitat Politècnica... view more Credit: IGTP Researchers from the Research Institute Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP), the Biomedical Research Networking Center on Cardiovascular Diseases (CIBERCV), the University of Barcelona and the the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya have created a new field probe to detect in a non-invasive and non-ionizing way the presence of metallic stents as well as their potential structural ...

In those precious weeks before a woman even realizes she's pregnant, an embryo will have already developed a neural tube, a hollow structure made of cells which will eventually become the brain and spinal cord. Now, with $3.2 million from the National Institutes of Health, UH professor of biomedical engineering Kirill Larin will tackle the evolutionary anomaly of why the neural tube closes in most embryos but remains open in others, leading to birth defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly. Neural Tube Defects (NTD) are the second most common structural birth defect in humans, affecting upwards of ...

Using artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, researchers at Shiley Eye Institute at UC San Diego Health and University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues in China, Germany and Texas, have developed a new computational tool to screen patients with common but blinding retinal diseases, potentially speeding diagnoses and treatment. The findings are published in the February 22 issue of Cell . "Artificial intelligence (AI) has huge potential to revolutionize disease diagnosis and management by doing analyses and classifications involving immense amounts of data that are difficult for human experts -- and doing them rapidly," said senior author Kang ...

Researchers have developed the first instrument that can provide a detailed image of the entire eye. By incorporating a lens that changes optical parameters in response to an electric current, the innovative technology can produce higher quality images than currently available and could make eye examinations faster and more comfortable for patients by avoiding the need to undergo imaging with multiple instruments to look at different areas of the eye. "Diseases such as glaucoma affect both the front and back portions of the eye," said Ireneusz Grulkowski, whose research team at Nicolaus Copernicus University , Poland, worked with Pablo Artal's ...

Chulhong Kim, Associate Professor of Creative IT Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), has been selected to receive the 2017 IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) Academic Early Career Achievement Award for his contributions to 'multi-scale photoacoustic imaging from super-resolution atomic force photoactivated microscopy for research to systems for clinical applications.' This highly prestigious award is given annually to an individual "for significant contributions to the field of biomedical engineering as evidenced by innovative research design, product development, patents, and/or publications made by an individual who is within 10 years of completing their highest ...

The Institute of Biological and Medical Imaging at Helmholtz Zentrum München is heading the "Hybrid optical and optoacoustic endoscope for esophageal tracking" (ESOTRAC) research project, in which engineers and physicians together develop a novel hybrid endoscopic instrument for early diagnosis and staging of esophageal cancer. The device may reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies and, importantly, facilitate early-disease detection leading to earlier start of therapy, which improves therapeutic efficacy over late-disease treatment and leads to immense cost-savings for the health care system. ESOTRAC has been awarded four million Euros from Horizon 2020, the EU framework program for research and ...

An industry-academic collaboration has achieved the first optical coherence tomography (OCT) images of cubic meter volumes. With OCT's ability to provide difficult-to-obtain information on material composition, subsurface structure, coatings, surface roughness and other properties, this advance could open up many new uses for OCT in industry, manufacturing and medicine. The achievement also represents important progress toward developing a high-speed, low-cost OCT system on a single integrated circuit chip. "Our study demonstrates world-record results in cubic meter volume imaging, with at least an order of magnitude larger depth range and volume compared to previous demonstrations of three-dimensional OCT," said James ...

Lehigh University bio-engineers are first to explore the use of highly-sensitive, non-invasive optical coherence tomography (OCT) to examine neuron-to-neuron communication in live tissue. Scientific progress has provided a solid understanding of the anatomy of the brain. However, there is still no reliable way to examine neuron to neuron communication, as it happens--a key to understanding the correlation between brain structure and brain function. Chao Zhou , assistant professor of bioengineering at Lehigh University, likens our current brain-mapping ability to a Global Positioning System (GPS) that can help a user locate a city, but cannot offer a street-level view. With current imaging ...

Rome, Italy 30 August 2016: More than one quarter of heart attack patients who are normally treated with stents to re-open their blocked arteries might be able to forgo this procedure and receive anti-thrombotic medications only, according to results of a pilot study. Results of the EROSION (Effective Anti-thrombotic Therapy without Stenting: Intravascular OCT-based Management in Plaque Erosion) study, presented in a Hot Line session at ESC Congress 2016, and published simultaneously in the European Heart Journal , suggest "a potentially major change in the treatment of a significant number of patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS)," said lead investigator Ik-Kyung ...

Engineers and physicians at Duke University have developed a handheld device capable of capturing images of a retina with cellular resolution. The new probe will allow researchers to gather detailed structural information about the eyes of infants and toddlers for the first time. "Diagnostic tools that examine and image the retina have been well-designed for adults, but are exceedingly difficult to use in infants and young children who can't hold the required position or focus for long enough periods of time," said Cynthia Toth, professor of ophthalmology and biomedical engineering at Duke University. "Before now, it hasn't been ...

The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology today published a special anniversary edition in their journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science with more than 70 articles to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the invention of Optical Coherence Tomography technology, co-invented by Oregon Health & Science University Casey Eye Institute's David Huang, M.D., Ph.D. while Huang was a Ph.D. student with James Fujimoto, Ph.D. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. OCT is the most commonly used ophthalmic diagnostic technology worldwide, with an estimated 30 million OCT imaging procedures performed every year. "I am pleased to see how well ...

Researchers have found that the parts of the inner ear that process sounds such as speech and music seem to work differently than other parts of the inner ear. Researchers from Linköping University are part of the team behind the discovery. "This helps us understand the mechanisms that enable us to perceive speech and music. We hope that more knowledge about the capabilities of the ear will lead to better treatments for the hearing impaired," says Anders Fridberger, professor of neuroscience at Linköping University. To perceive speech and music, you must be able to hear low-frequency sound. And ...

University of Arizona researcher Jennifer Barton is leading a two-year, $1 million project funded by the National Cancer Institute to identify imaging biomarkers of ovarian cancer, the most deadly gynecological cancer in the United States. This work may enable the first effective screening system for ovarian cancer. "Located deep in the body, with few early symptoms and no effective screening techniques, ovarian cancer has remained stubbornly difficult to understand, much less effectively combat," said Barton, professor of biomedical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, optical sciences, and agricultural and biosystems engineering, and interim director of the UA BIO5 Institute.

Researchers have developed a new device that can be used to visualize how sound-induced vibrations travel through the ear. The technology is providing new insight into how the ear receives and processes sound waves and, with additional development, might one day be used by physicians to diagnose diseases that affect hearing. The new imaging tool is based on optical coherence tomography (OCT), a biomedical imaging technique, which can provide high resolution images of the microstructures of tissue. It can be used to image the middle ear through the intact eardrum and to measure the tiny vibrations within the ear that ...

Astronauts who spend time aboard the International Space Station return to Earth with changes to the structure of their eyes which could impact their vision. NASA has studied the phenomenon, known as space flight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS), for several years, and now a University of Houston optometrist has quantified some of the changes using optical coherence tomography imaging, reporting his findings in JAMA Ophthalmology . "We studied pre-flight and post-flight data from 15 astronauts who had spent time aboard the space station and detected changes in morphology of the eyes," said Nimesh Patel, assistant professor. All of them had good vision ...

Researchers have developed a new way to capture the detailed biomechanical properties of heart tissue. The high-resolution optical technique fills an important technology gap necessary to develop and test therapies that might eventually be used to heal heart damage after a heart attack. "Today about one million people suffer heart attacks every year, and there is currently no cure for the resulting cardiac tissue scarring," said Kirill V. Larin of University of Houston , Texas who co-led the research with James F. Martin from the Baylor College of Medicine and the Texas Heart Institute . "We are working to develop ways to ...

Frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that is present in tens of thousands of Americans, but is often difficult to diagnose accurately. Now in a study published this week online ahead of print in Neurology , researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found evidence that a simple eye exam and retinal imaging test may help improve that accuracy. Using an inexpensive, non-invasive, eye-imaging technique, the Penn Medicine scientists found that patients with FTD showed thinning of the outer retina--the layers with the photoreceptors through which we see--compared to control subjects. The retina ...

Many of today's cars are coated with paint that exhibits a metallic or glittery shine. The exact sparkle and color you see is determined by the distribution and characteristics of tiny metal flakes used in the paint. A new approach based on the medical imaging technique optical coherence tomography (OCT) provides the car industry with a practical way to automatically analyze these metal flakes, which until now have been difficult to image, in order to improve the efficiency of the automotive finishing process. "We have demonstrated, for the first time, through OCT and our image analysis approach, we are ...