Leading lights

The use of photonics is expanding rapidly with applications across the scientific spectrum. We speak to several experts and find out why photonics is one of the UK’s fastest growing topics

Significant advances in the development of optical techniques have led to an ever increasing role of photonics in the study of various problems in the life sciences, in biological and chemical sciences, in medicine, clinical sciences, neurophysiology etc. Researchers are continually looking for better ways to analyse complex processes and photonics underpins many of the most promising approaches for medical diagnosis, drug development & other clinical and life science applications.

Photonex is hosting a one-day conference which focuses on imaging on the nano-scale as widely used in chemical and biological sciences. We have been speaking with the chair of the programme committee, Dr Frederic Festy from King’s College London’s Dental Institute. Dr Festy is Senior Lecturer in the Biomaterials, Biomimetic and Biophotonics Research Group where he focuses on developing novel optical tools to enhance the understanding of biological tissues. His research includes chemical studies of biomaterial interfaces, live cell imaging, protein interactions and disease diagnosis. He is currently holding a number of grants which aim to develop non-linear Raman spectroscopy for high-resolution chemical mapping and tissue characterisation.

LN: Which new techniques are you seeing making breakthroughs? FF: Non-linear optics and super-resolution microscopy are now starting to make an impact in the fields of biology and biomedical sciences. The sudden explosion of novel techniques available to break the fundamental limits of optical microscopy is fascinating the scientific community and is reaching a larger audience than the conventional fluorescence microscopy user base, thanks to the elegance of these new technologies. My group is mainly focussed in developing new non-linear fluorescence and Raman-based microscopy and spectroscopy for the purpose of tissue interface characterisation and disease diagnosis and this work is therefore closely related to some on the novel nano-bio-imaging techniques.   

LN: What do you see as the next steps in applied microscopy for imaging in biophotonics? FF: I am expecting all these new super-resolution techniques to start making a major impact in fundamental cell biology and protein functions. The ability to image single protein in live specimens is about to revolutionise this field and will play a key role in unravelling the complex networks of biomolecular interactions that underpin normal cell functions. I think that the next big step in biophotonics is potentially the convergence between super high-resolution imaging and non-linear Raman spectroscopy to gain biochemical information on the nanoscale. However, no one knows how to do this yet.

We have also been talking to a user with a great deal of knowledge of the uses of light for scientific applications. John Knight started out in 1965 and has held a variety of roles in his working career. He designed the first absolute spectrofluourimeter for the Royal Navy, the first ever commercially-available dark liquids refractometers and Brix meters. Later, he started the European operation for Shimadzu and more recently, through his company Knight Photonics Ltd, been involved in the integration of photonics-based technology into a whole host of different applications. Photonics as far as he is concerned is no longer for the physicist: it is a technology available to all.

LN: Tell us how you have seen photonics evolve. JK: It is the convergence of new design and concept that evolves new tools for measurement and synthesis of materials. An example of this starting in the early 90s was the fusion of use between computers, pixels array detectors, fibre optics, new coating and optical fabrication techniques. Optics also has become digitised both actively and statically allowing multiplexed measurement of samples or, as in astronomy, for image correction. We are now moving into the nano world of analysis and fabrication, with optical computing soon to be on general offer. The new evolution of microscopy will play a significant role in the way forward. Fast techniques to measure and analyse large numbers of samples still has to mature further as we seek to understand disease, genetics, environmental factors and so on. Fast photonic analysis also has an important role in interpreting kinetic chemistries and biochemistries.

LN: What does this mean to the scientist in the general laboratory with demands placed by the company to solve measurement problems on the production line? JK: The significant issue here is that we can now so often ‘take light to the site’ of the sample process, instead of collecting batches of samples for delayed analysis in the laboratory. In the laboratory itself we can multiplex light to large numbers of samples for parallel measurement. Modern spectroscopy is able apply logic to measure analytes for example in most difficult complexes. The large size spectrometers and measuring instruments are now much smaller, almost hand size, in many instances, so it is so much easier to get the right technique to the spot where it’s needed. We also see the chemistry, when it’s really needed prior to analysis, being miniaturised as we find with lab-on-chip technology. This is now being fused with photonics too.

We find many examples of ‘remote’ and ‘on location’ measurement in bioreactors, fabrication in vacuum, in hazardous cabinets or zones, and with lasers making long distance interpretation of status. Techniques include, analysis by fluorescence, Raman, polarisation, reflectance, absorption from the vacuum UV to the far Infra-red, with ability to measure the smallest of differences.