NIR Spectroscopy

NASA and the US Geological Survey provide data from their Landsat satellites for free. This data is already used by farmers to monitor nitrogen levels in their fields and plan fertiliser application.

Novel, biocompatible nanoparticles luminesce in the NIR through more than 3 cm of biological tissue, demonstrating the promise of nanotechnology in biomedical imaging.

The short course programme at Pittcon 2013 has been announced.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been used to non-invasively map out the network of tiny blood vessels beneath the outer layer of patients’ skin, potentially revealing signs of disease. The researchers tested their system on a range of different skin conditions, including two cases of basal cell carcinoma. Compared to healthy skin, the network of vessels supplying blood to the tested lesions showed significantly altered patterns.

New optical imaging technology using NIR developed at Tufts University School of Engineering (Boston, MA, USA) could give doctors new ways to both identify breast cancer and monitor individual patients’ response to initial treatment of the disease. A five-year clinical study of the procedure, funded by a $3.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, is now underway at Tufts Medical Center.

The United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) has selected the Thermo Scientific TruScan RM and microPHAZIR RX instruments to support its recent initiative to provide approved libraries to pharmaceutical manufacturers.