Fountain of Youth

JAMES SCHLETT, EDITOR, james.schlett@photonics.com

It wasn’t that long ago when the biggest downside to laser facial rejuvenation was the significant recovery period after the procedure. In exchange for looking years younger, patients often had to brace for up to a month of uncomfortable recuperation.

In “Facial Lasers’ Future: Shorter Downtimes, Darker Skin Types,” (read article), we see how cosmetic laser companies are now pushing the bounds of fractionated technology to further reduce costs and downtime, by introducing systems with multiple and new wavelengths as well as faster and more powerful picosecond and diode lasers. New and improved systems are also expanding patient demographics, with systems that better treat people with Fitzpatrick skin types V and VI.

In “Hyperspectral Microscopy: A Powerful Technique for Multiplexed Imaging,” by Laura-Isabelle Dion-Bertrand of Photon Etc., (read article), Dion-Bertrand reviews the menu of fluorescence probes from which researchers can choose. There are quantum dots and organic dyes, but she focuses on single-walled carbon nanotubes and how hyperspectral microscopy can help unlock their potential in accelerating drug discovery and cancer detection.

Other feature articles in this issue include:

• “Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy — Going Beyond the Diffraction Limit,” by André Devaux, Andreas Bülter and Felix Koberling of PicoQuant, (read article);

• “Ultralow-light CMOS Bio-Optical Sensor Enables Low-Cost and Portable Molecular Testing,” by Zhimin Ding, Li Liu and Yuping Chung of Anitoa Systems, (read article); and

• … in our Laser Sourcebook section: “Laser Light Endoscopy Aids Early Cancer Detection,” by Andrew Graveley of Nathaniel Group, (read article).

Additionally, in his Biopinon column, “Big Cash Prizes Needed to Boost Biophotonics Commercialization,” (read article), Georgetown University professor Paul Kainen points out that the failure to translate photonics’ successes in biomedical science into the retail medical device market stems from unattractive financial incentives for businesses to pursue such costly and risky endeavors. He proffers the award of multibillion-dollar prizes as a way to not only expand photonics’ role in retail medicine but also to solve the most pressing medical challenges of our time.

We hope you enjoy this issue.