Optical technologies are growing in importance in biolife sciences. Various research establishments are currently at work developing new laser-supported processes that could produce advances in optical diagnostics, cell biology and the food safety area.

The research by Laser- und Medizin-Technologie GmbH in Berlin focuses on the effects of fluorescence. The institute has developed an innovative imaging device that works with close to infrared light and can be used in the area of optical diagnostics in particular. The device consists of a lens, a beam splitter, CCD image sensors and near infrared LEDs, which are used to "excite" a fluorescent contrast agent. Added to this is a computer with appropriate software with which the images of the fabric marked with the contrast agent are shown. Diode lasers can also be used to excite the contrast agent instead of the LEDs. The images can then be recorded by scanning a surface.

The imaging device is primarily intended to assist surgeons with interoperative tumor removal. The contrast agent used will allow the tumor to be immediately identified on the screen as malignant or non-malignant. Another area of application is bio-technology research, where the device will help in resolving issues relating to antibody generation and cell differentiation. The imaging device's market launch is planned for 2010.

Laser-supported processes are growing in importance in areas other than optical diagnostics - such as cell and eye surgery, for example. Researchers at the Medical Laser Center at Lübeck University are currently at work on the nano-effects of cells on which current laser surgery is based. They have concluded here that these nano-effects are not just generated with femtosecond lasers as previously assumed, but rather that they can be generated just as well with significantly more cost-effective nanosecond lasers. By way of comparison: a femtosecond laser costs EUR 150,000; a nanosecond laser only costs EUR 15,000. This can of course provide huge savings with single-cell and eye-surgery procedures with which femtosecond lasers are currently still the instrument of choice. In the cell surgery area, for example, they are used to introduce genes through the cell membrane into a cell. In eye surgery the femtosecond laser is currently used to correct short-sightedness and for cataract surgery.

The food safety area is also making major advances with laser light. A group of experts from five Berlin research institutes under the guidance of the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration is busy developing a process that will determine and document how fresh meat is using laser light. The project is called "FreshScan" and is funded by the German Research Ministry with approximately EUR 3 million.

A "function demonstrator" consisting of two components will be developed in the next three years. One component is an intelligent label that functions as a kind of routing slip and documents the meat's status from the abattoir to sale, and the second component is a laser gun that records the meat's status and writes it immediately into the intelligent label. The experts also plan to enable continuous temperature measuring and recording via the label, so that each interruption in the refrigeration chain is documented.

In addition to the conference, biophotonic applications, methods and processes will for the first time ever become a focus point at LASER World of PHOTONICS 2009.