Insight in the Field of Biophotonics

Biophotonics is the science of generating and harnessing light (photons) to image, detect and manipulate biological materials. Biophotonics is an emerging area of scientific research that uses light and other forms of radiant energy to understand the inner workings of cells and tissues in living organisms. The approach allows researchers to see, measure, analyze and manipulate living tissues in ways that has not been possible before. Biophotonics is used in biology to study and probe for molecular mechanisms, function of proteins, DNA and other important molecules. It is used in medicine to study tissue and blood at the macro (large-scale) and micro (very small scale) organism level to detect, diagnose and treat diseases in a way that are non-invasive to the body. Examples of biophotonics in biology and medicine include, new laser microscopes that allow measurements of single molecules and tissues at unprecedented resolution, new light-activated chemicals that can be used to weld tissues for surgical applications and to label important proteins, widely tunable ultrafast laser sources, which provide access to molecular dynamics and structure, optical coherence tomography, which allows visualization of tissues and organs.