Day 3 began with a plenary by Dr. Bruce Tromberg focused on the development of diffuse optical imaging methods and how they are being currently used in the clinic (BTu1A.1). Among all the applications, I thought the work using near-infrared spectroscopy to measure oxygen saturation in breast tissues to determine if cancer patients are responding to neoadjuvant therapy was the most impressive. It was also great to see that a large number investigators in the field have started working together in a multi-site effort to assess individual patient's response to chemotherapy.
The second plenary by Dr. Xiaowei Zhuang was an overview of some impressive work to image at resolutions below the diffraction limit (BTu1A.2). Using photo-switchable fluorescent dyes and stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy, investigators have shown that they can image microtubules, clathrin pits, synapse receptors, and other small biologic structures that were previously only visible with electron microscopy. While further resolution improvements are likely, the images this technique has already produces are incredibly impressive.
Other research I learned about today included fluorescence tomography efforts to track and quantify rare circulating cancer cells in vivo (BTu2A.2), dynamic imaging of airway epithelial cell motion using OCT that can be applied to a variety of lung diseases (BTu4B.6), and a group in Japan that has developed a 300-camera array for "ultra-realistic" remote communication (DTu4C.2 and DTu4C.3). I am hoping that it won't be long before hologram-calls to friends and family are a reality.
The day ended with the OIDA Rump Session where representatives from the NIH, academia, and a variety of companies with a focus in optical technology. Each panel member had interesting insight regarding what it takes to bring a technology from an idea to commercialization. Briefly, the subsequent discussion with a large amount of audience participation included the following:
1) Knowing when to commercialize a technology is sometimes just as important as what the technology is.
2) The price of an imaging system is crucial, but often times investigators in academia don't know what the market would support.
3) There are two common routes to market for academics: A) start there own company or B) license the technology to someone else. While licensing makes certain things easier, it is important to keep as much of the equity as possible.
4) Venture capitalists will sometimes take a technological risk, but will never take a market risk. If the customer base is not there, it doesn't matter how great the invention is.
5) Justifying to clinicians that a new technology will positively impact patient care is critical. Quantifying information that is interesting but will not impact treatment won't work.
6) The optics community should focus on leading with their strengths (kind of like a hand of bridge?). The fact that imaging with light does not use ionizing radiation, is relatively inexpensive, and can be portable should be emphasized to the medical community.
7) Focus on the unmet clinical need, not the technology.
BioMed 2012 unfortunately finishes tomorrow, but with 4 more two hour sessions, 3 parallel tracks, and 2 coffee breaks, I am sure there will be plenty more interesting research presented before the conference ends!
The second plenary by Dr. Xiaowei Zhuang was an overview of some impressive work to image at resolutions below the diffraction limit (BTu1A.2). Using photo-switchable fluorescent dyes and stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy, investigators have shown that they can image microtubules, clathrin pits, synapse receptors, and other small biologic structures that were previously only visible with electron microscopy. While further resolution improvements are likely, the images this technique has already produces are incredibly impressive.
Other research I learned about today included fluorescence tomography efforts to track and quantify rare circulating cancer cells in vivo (BTu2A.2), dynamic imaging of airway epithelial cell motion using OCT that can be applied to a variety of lung diseases (BTu4B.6), and a group in Japan that has developed a 300-camera array for "ultra-realistic" remote communication (DTu4C.2 and DTu4C.3). I am hoping that it won't be long before hologram-calls to friends and family are a reality.
The day ended with the OIDA Rump Session where representatives from the NIH, academia, and a variety of companies with a focus in optical technology. Each panel member had interesting insight regarding what it takes to bring a technology from an idea to commercialization. Briefly, the subsequent discussion with a large amount of audience participation included the following:
1) Knowing when to commercialize a technology is sometimes just as important as what the technology is.
2) The price of an imaging system is crucial, but often times investigators in academia don't know what the market would support.
3) There are two common routes to market for academics: A) start there own company or B) license the technology to someone else. While licensing makes certain things easier, it is important to keep as much of the equity as possible.
4) Venture capitalists will sometimes take a technological risk, but will never take a market risk. If the customer base is not there, it doesn't matter how great the invention is.
5) Justifying to clinicians that a new technology will positively impact patient care is critical. Quantifying information that is interesting but will not impact treatment won't work.
6) The optics community should focus on leading with their strengths (kind of like a hand of bridge?). The fact that imaging with light does not use ionizing radiation, is relatively inexpensive, and can be portable should be emphasized to the medical community.
7) Focus on the unmet clinical need, not the technology.
BioMed 2012 unfortunately finishes tomorrow, but with 4 more two hour sessions, 3 parallel tracks, and 2 coffee breaks, I am sure there will be plenty more interesting research presented before the conference ends!
No comments:
Post a Comment