03 August 2010

OSA Launches New Journal, Biomedical Optics Express

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Lyndsay Meyer
The Optical Society
+1.202.416.1435
lmeyer@osa.org

OSA Launches New Journal, Biomedical Optics Express

WASHINGTON, August 2 – The Optical Society (OSA) announced today the launch and publication of the first issue of its newest monthly journal, Biomedical Optics Express. With a focus on biomedical optics and photonics, Biomedical Optics Express joins OSA’s diverse portfolio of 14 peer-reviewed optics journals. The editor-in-chief of this new journal is Joseph A. Izatt, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University.

Published online, Biomedical Optics Express is OSA’s principal outlet for serving the biomedical optics community. The Journal provides rapid, open-access publication of content related to optics, photonics, and imaging in the life sciences and its scope encompasses theoretical modeling and simulations, technology development, biomedical studies, and clinical applications. Thirty-one articles are published in the inaugural issue, including contributed submissions and articles from three special issues: Advances in Optical Coherence Tomography, Photoacoustic Imaging, and Microscopy; Bio-optics in Clinical Application, Nanotechnology, and Drug Therapy; and Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy. Additional articles in these special issues will be published during the coming months.

“Biomedical Optics Express has already received a tremendous number of submissions of outstanding quality,” said Izatt. “I firmly believe that the format and timeliness of Biomedical Optics Express will serve our research community well, and I am honored to be a part of this new and exciting journal.”

A video introduction to the journal by Izatt can be found online here: http://www.opticsinfobase.org/boe/home.cfm

The following are some research highlights from the inaugural issue of Biomedical Optics Express, which can be accessed online at http://www.opticsinfobase.org/boe/issue.cfm:

• Udo Jochen Birk, et al., “Correction for specimen movement and rotation errors for in-vivo Optical Projection Tomography.” Optical projection tomography (OPT) allows for non-invasive imaging combined with the specificity of fluorescence labeling for imaging of embryos and small animals, however such measurements have traditionally been limited to fixed, non-living samples. This paper reports on novel post-processing mathematical methods to correct for sample drift and mechanical movements and thus extend the technique to living samples.
• Kengyeh K. Chu, et al., “Practical implementation of log-scale active illumination microscopy.” Active illumination microscopy (AIM) is a novel method of improving dynamic range in scanning microscopes using real-time feedback to control illumination power on a sub-pixel time scale. In this paper, a detailed theoretical and computational analysis of the influence of noise on active illumination feedback is presented, along with imaging examples illustrating the benefits of AIM in two-photon microscopy.
• Rickson C. Mesquita, et al., “Resting state functional connectivity of the whole head with near-infrared spectroscopy.” Newly available techniques employing near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for monitoring brain function are non-invasive, inexpensive, portable, and have higher temporal resolution than standard functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This paper reports on the use of whole-head NIRS measurements for monitoring baseline fluctuations of cortical hemodynamics in human subjects, and analysis of their spatiotemporal correlations.
• K. Passler, et al., “Scanning acoustic-photoacoustic microscopy using axicon transducers.” Photoacostic microscopy and classical ultrasound imaging provide complementary information about specimens due to their different (optical versus acoustic) sources of contrast. This paper reports a novel approach to combine both techniques in a single measurement, by separating images due to their differing time of flight.
• Le Qiu, et al., “Gold nanorod light scattering labels for biomedical imaging.” Gold nanorods can be used as extremely bright labels for differential light scattering measurements using closely spaced wavelengths, potentially helping to detect human disease through several centimeters of tissue. This paper reviews the theoretical basis of the optical properties of nanorods and quantitatively compares their expected performance versus fluorescent labels.

Biomedical Optics Express’ authors and readers will appreciate this rapid, online open-access publication plus its availability of free color figures, movies, animations, and live reference links. HTML with MathML (XHTML) versions of each article, suitable for viewing on a range of electronic devices, are published along with the formatted PDF. In addition to a wide variety of original research articles, Biomedical Optics Express offers readers convenient links to biomedical content selected from other OSA journals. Biomedical Optics Express also welcomes author videos and submissions featuring OSA’s Interactive Science Publishing (ISP) capability for online visualization of large datasets.

About OSA

Uniting more than 106,000 professionals from 134 countries, the Optical Society (OSA) brings together the global optics community through its programs and initiatives. Since 1916 OSA has worked to advance the common interests of the field, providing educational resources to the scientists, engineers and business leaders who work in the field by promoting the science of light and the advanced technologies made possible by optics and photonics. OSA publications, events, technical groups and programs foster optics knowledge and scientific collaboration among all those with an interest in optics and photonics. For more information, visit www.osa.org.

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