Photonics for a Better World

Brain mapping -- using light to observe and track neuron activity in the brain -- holds much promise for treating some of the most troubling conditions. Among its goals are treatment of stroke, epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, and even depression. The field is claiming the attention of R&D funders as well. A White House announcement last week of a potential$100 million funding pot for brain research , as part of the presidential budget proposal for fiscal year 2014, made waves that echoed the response to an announcement last month of a far-reaching brain research program in Europe. As Mike Hatcher , editor of optics.org, noted, the White House-proposed BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnoloiges) initiative still requires backing by a fractious Congress. “But if the public-private scheme does go ahead it will mirror an even larger funding proposal in Europe, where -- along with graphene research -- the ‘Human Brain Project’ was earmarked as ...

 (Image: MIT.) In a newsletter post today titled "OCT gets deep," optics.org Editor Mike Hatcher heralds some important developments for physicians and their patients: "Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has come a long way since its early development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). But there has always been one key limitation of the technique: its inability to image at depths of more than a couple of millimeters. "But that now looks set to change, thanks to OCT systems based around lasers with tunable, narrow linewidths and long coherence lengths . So whereas physicians currently use OCT to look at just the retina, they could soon be using it to sweep through the entire structure of the eye. "Clinical development of such systems will inevitably take time, but last week also saw a new OCT system for cardiovascular imaging launched in Japan. In combination with a non-optical technique, the system designed by St. Jude Medi...

Jijo Ulahannan (SPIE Member Jijo Ulahannan , assistant professor at Government College Kasaragod in India, is among students at the biophotonics and imaging graduate summer school 7-13 June at the National University of Ireland [NUI] Galway. He filed this guest blog with a first-hand report.) The international Biophotonics and Imaging Graduate Summer School (BIGSS 2012) is underway in the beautiful coastal city of Galway focusing on two of the hottest topics in the field of biophotonics, namely optical coherence tomography (OCT) and photoacoustic imaging. About 30 graduate students and early career professionals are here for the event, which is organized by the NUI Galway Applied Optics group and chaired by Professor Martin Leahy who also leads the National Biophotonics Platform Ireland. Major sponsors are SPIE and Photonics4Life . The summer school brings the past, present and trends for the future of biophotonics and microscopic imaging techniques to aspiring young ...