Biophotonics technology for minimally invasive in-vivo diagnosis

生物光子学(或称生物医学光学)是一个迅速发展的交叉学科领域，它应用最新的物理、化学和工程技术来应对生物和医学挑战。光能可以用来准确和精确地检测生物系统在其局部化、体积、能量、时间和光谱方面的某些变化。特别是，光纤导管的使用使得能够在人体非常偏远的区域以最小的侵入性传递和检测光能。基于荧光的光谱和成像技术是生物光子学中的重要推动力。当光线照射到生物组织上时，一些组织分子会发出包含这些荧光团(胶原、弹性蛋白、脂类、NADH、黄素、维生素、氨基酸等)内在信息的荧光。荧光光谱技术获取并分析这些发射的光，以表征生物系统的生化成分和病理条件。他们在开发基础和临床研究的微创诊断方法方面发挥了重要作用。除了天然的荧光团外，合成的外源荧光染料还被用于靶向特定的恶性细胞或细胞内物种(如线粒体和/或膜)。这些技术的进步将具有广泛的适用性，例如恶性疾病的早期检测和诊断、图像引导的干预和监测治疗反应，这最终将使加拿大的卫生保健系统受益。

Biophotonics (or biomedical optics) is a fast growing interdisciplinary field in which recent physical, chemical, and engineering advances are applied to meet biological and medical challenges. Optical energy can be used to accurately and precisely detect certain changes in the biological system in terms of its localization, volume, energy, time, and spectra. Particularly, the use of fiber optic catheters enables minimally invasive delivery and detection of optical energy in very remote regions of the human body. Fluorescence-based spectroscopy and imaging techniques are important thrusts in biophotonics.  When light is onto biological tissue, some tissue molecules will emit fluorescence light containing intrinsic information about these fluorophores (collagen, elastin, lipids, NADH, flavin, vitamin, amino acids etc.) Fluorescence spectroscopy techniques acquire and analyze this emitted light to characterize the biochemical composition and pathological conditions of the living biological system. They have played important roles in developing minimally-invasive diagnostic modalities for both basic and clinical research. In addition to naturally occurring fluorophores, synthesized exogenous fluorescent dyes have been used to target specific malignant cells or intracellular species (e.g. mitochondria and/or membrane). Advances in such technologies will have broad applicability such as early detection and diagnosis of malignant conditions, image-guided interventions, and monitoring responses to therapy, which will ultimately benefit Canada's health care system.