Development of New Optical Techniques and Methods for Basic Biology and Biomedical Applications

Dear Colleagues,

The optically active biomolecules and microstructures that are intrinsic to biological materials, as well as the ever-new dyes and fluorophores produced by chemical synthesis, are increasingly being used for various kinds of investigations and analytical applications in biology and biomedicine. The expanding success in the use of optical methods and techniques is made possible by constant technological improvements. Innovative light sources, including lamps, LEDs, and lasers, ensure suitable selectivity and intensity of irradiation, which are also attainable through single- and multiphoton excitation and extension to the near-IR range. In turn, multi- and hyperspectral imaging, phasor approaches, fluorescence-lifetime imaging, spectral fitting, convolutional neural networks analyses, remote sensing, and other related automated procedures are examples of technologies which represent the advances in detection systems and data processing.

Light-based studies on plants include functional mechanisms, such as photosystems; components, such as beneficial flavonoids or betalains and their derivatives; the development of light-based procedures for industrial applications in energy, biomass, or food production and control; remote real-time diagnosis of vegetable disease; and environmental or waste-processing surveillance.

Light-based studies on animals include the characterization of surface pigments or iridescence for evolutionary, taxonomic, behavioral, and environmental purposes; tools for optically active sensing devices; and, again, food production and control. On the other hand, endogenous or exogenous pigments and fluorophores, which are specifically related to metabolic and physiological processes in cells, tissues, organs, and fluids, are the basis for the development of optical-based assays in biomedicine, permitting the mechanisms underlying the development of pathology to be unveiled, and enabling the development of optical biopsy procedures for the in situ, real-time diagnosis and monitoring of disease.    

This Special Issue is not limited to the topics mentioned here or those recalled by the keywords, but is open to all discussions relevant to the development of new techniques and methods which aim to exploit optical events for assays, investigations, and applications on living beings, from basic biology to the biomedical field.

Dr. Anna Cleta Croce
Guest Editor

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