Cell Bio 2012 event brims with biophotonics innovations

Seemingly well-timed in the midst of the 2012 holiday season, the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)'s annual meeting, held December 15-19, 2012, in San Francisco, CA, this year, had a lot to give to its some-7,000 attendees through its exhibition, symposia, and poster presentations. While not solely a bio-optics and biophotonics event, the innovations for these markets present on the exhibit floor, etc., didn't disappoint.

A handful of companies had chosen ASCB as their venue to unveil some of their latest innovations in this space. Here are a couple of note:

At Bio-Rad Laboratories' (Hercules, CA) booth, the company showed its S3 Cell Sorter, "the first truly walk-up automated cell sorter available," they claim, as scientists need minimal training to operate it. Equipped with one or two lasers and up to four fluorescence detectors, the benchtop system has fully enclosed fluidics and temperature control in a 2.3 x 2.1 x 2.1 ft footprint. What's more, the system is ready to sort samples in less than 30 minutes for high-throughput applications such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and fluorescent cell imaging.

Scientific instrumentation maker FEI (Hillsboro, OR) launched a light/electron microscopy combo that enables scientists to see structural and functional relationships at various resolutions in their samples with unprecedented detail, says the company. The iCorr fluorescence microscope module, which is available either as an integrated component on the company's Tecnai transmission electron microscopes or as as a retrofitted module on already installed Tecnai platforms, delivers correlative results in minutes rather than hours or days, thanks to a white-light LED source and image acquisition at 10 fps.

For BioOptics World's full report on the event, please stay tuned for the January/February 2013 issue. Until then, have a wonderful New Year!

OCT system clearances galore

The first half of 2012 has seen a handful of optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging systems garner U.S. Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA) clearance for clinical use, signaling what's sure to become the gold standard for imaging technology. In case you missed it, here's a short recap:

OptiMedica (Santa Clara, CA)'s Catalys Precision Laser System, one that couples OCT imaging technology with a femtosecond laser, earned its FDA clearance in January for use in capsulotomy and lens fragmentation--both ophthalmic procedures. What's more, it was CE-marked (Europe's FDA equivalent) for corneal incisions in April.

NinePoint Medical (Cambridge, MA)'s Nvision OCT system gained FDA clearance in January for endoscopic application; specifically, imaging Barrett's esophagus (which can precede esophageal cancer). The company plans to kick off clinical trials of the system this year and boost its manufacturing capabilities to support a commercial launch some time next year.

Bioptigen (Research Triangle Park, NC) has been having a busy year, too. Last week, the company received FDA clearance to begin commercializing its handheld Envisu spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) devices for diagnosis of physiological and pathological conditions of the eye in patients of all ages. The system has received regulatory approval from Canadian, European, and Australian authorities already, and has even been used to remove the cataract of a 38-year-old elephant.

CLEO:2012: Femto is fierce for cataract surgery

At CLEO:2012, happening this week in San Jose, CA, one of the show's Market Focus talks focused on the future of femtosecond lasers in cataract surgery, led by moderator Marcos Dantus (BioPhotonic Solutions; MI), whose company's femtoAdaptiv femtosecond laser won this year's CLEO/Laser Focus World Innovation Award; Arturo Chayet, MD, of the Codet Vision Institute (Mexico)--the first to ever perform all-laser LASIK surgery; Wayne Knox of the University of Rochester (NY); and Shareef Mahdavi of SM2 Strategic (CA).

Mahdavi stated in his portion of the talk that out of the 70% of procedures that use lasers, 30-40% use femtosecond lasers. As of 12/31/11, 46 of these lasers have been installed in the U.S., with more than 50% of them being used in the clinical space--a pretty powerful statistic to prove that this technology is becoming more and more accessible. What's more, 92% of those who use it recommend it, says Mahdavi.

Be sure to look for BioOptics World's upcoming May/June issue, in which Barbara Goode further delves into this utility for femtosecond lasers.