Technology Focus

LASER configuration in the High Resolution Optical Imaging Lab

Just as the Hubble Telescope enables researchers to see and explore much greater expanses of the universe with breathtaking clarity, in the High Resolution Optical Imaging lab, Dr. Hari Shroff is developing microscope techniques that provide clearer pictures of nano-scale structures and processes on the surface and inside single living cells.

High Resolution Optical Imaging Lab

The NIBIB Section on High Resolution Optical Imaging (HROI) develops novel technologies for studying biological processes at unprecedented speed and resolution.

Dr. Mehmet Toner working with new microchip technology developed in his laboratory

With enough sensitivity to detect and trap a single at-large cancer cell from among a billion blood cells, the impressive new Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) microchip is showing much promise as it points the way to a new era in the fight against cancer.

The "star" of the show at work--the CTC microchip platform

The "one-two punch" of CTC microchip research success has thus far been realized through the tandem impact of QG funds and the NIBIB-funded BioMEMS Resource Center, which, in Toner's words, "…has been a unique environment, nurturing the translation [of the microchip] from a 'cool technology' phase, to a 'real technology' phase with great potential for impact at the patient's bedside."

Closeup of fluorescing mutant proteins

Mentioning research done about a decade ago at the California Institute of Technology, France, and elsewhere, that resulted in the creation of fluorescing animals, such as mice, rabbits, and zebra fish, Patterson reports that his current work, although fledgling on the research horizon, involves investigation of HIV, polio, and phosphate-related disease states, among others.