Meeting Topics to Be Considered

• Advanced Microscopy Techniques
• Clinical and Biomedical Spectroscopy Topics
• Diffuse Optical Imaging
• Molecular Imaging
• Novel Optical Instrumentation for Biomedical Applications
• Optical Coherence Tomography and Coherence Techniques
• Therapeutic Laser Applications and Laser-Tissue Interactions

Advanced Microscopy Techniques

Papers are invited on all areas of development and application of confocal, nonlinear optical, and novel optical microscopies including, but not limited to, the following and related areas:

• High resolution optical imaging on the nanometer scale (e.g. PALM, STORM)
• Very fast and efficient imaging of large and complex biological specimens (e.g. SPIM, DSLM)
• Multi-modal spectroscopic analysis in microscopy
• Single molecular microscopy and microanalysis
• Micro-optics and MEMS based optical systems for the biomedical diagnosis
• Novel image contrast enhancement approaches such as SER and other near field surface effects
• Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy
• FRET-FLIM modalities
• Multiphoton microscopy, SHG, THG, and CARS microscopies using exogenous and/or endogenous contrast
• Biomedical instrumentation
• Fast image acquisition with time-resolving image acquisition systems

Clinical and Biomedical Spectroscopy Topics

Contributed papers are solicited, but not limited, to the following areas, using optical spectroscopy methods, e.g. fluorescence, autofluorescence, linear and nonlinear Raman, NIR, polarization, back-reflectance, and light scattering spectroscopy, and combined approaches (multimodal imaging):

Biomedical and clinical spectroscopic diagnostics

• In vivo diagnostics (structural and functional spectral imaging of cells, tissues, organs), including endoscopic, noninvasive and minimally invasive methods
• Tissue pathology
• Spectral biomarker analysis
• Spectroscopic micro- and nanosensors
• BioChip technology for Point-of-Care diagnostics
• Diagnostics and tissue engineering

Investigation of cellular and sub-cellular processes

• Analysis of cell dynamics by single-molecule techniques
• High spatial resolution microscopy
• Structural analysis of cells and tissue
• Biomarker discovery for spectroscopic techniques

Diffuse Optical Imaging

Contributed papers are solicited concerning, but not limited to, the following areas:

• Diffuse optical tomography and spectroscopy
• Image reconstruction algorithms
• Diffuse fluorescence and bioluminescence imaging
• Photoacoustic and optoacoustic imaging
• Novel molecular contrast agents
• Clinical applications
• Physiological studies using photon migration
• Breast cancer imaging and spectroscopy
• Brain imaging of cerebral activation
• Clinical brain imaging of stroke, hemorrhage, oxygenation, etc.
• Muscle physiology
• Phantom studies
• Animal studies
• Advances and optimization in instrumentation
• Hybrid-modality imaging with diffuse light

Molecular Imaging

Areas of interest consider, but are not limited to, progress in the following topics:

• Pre-clinical and clinical applications of molecular imaging
• Small animal imaging
• Chemistry of fluorescent dyes, probes and nano-particles for in vivo animal and human imaging
• Applications of molecular targeting and visualization of disease processes and pathways
• Genetically introduced reporters and proteins for fluorescence and bio-luminescence imaging
• Novel instrumentation and algorithms for optical and molecular imaging
• Validation of the quantitative assessment of molecular signatures in vivo
• Approaches for multi-modality imaging including MRI, X-ray, ultrasound and radiodiagnostic techniques

Novel Optical Instrumentation for Biomedical Applications

Topics for contributions are thus broadly open and include:

• Photoacoustic/optoacoustic imaging and diagnostics
• Photothermal imaging and diagnostics
• Acousto-optic imaging
• Speckle-based techniques
• Holography and micro-holography
• Nanoprobes for imaging and diagnostics
• MRI/optical image fusion
• Ultrasound/optical image fusion
• New approaches for photon discrimination in turbid media
• Near-field imaging in 2-D and 3-D
• Novel endoscopic technologies
• Integration of diagnostic and therapeutic photomedicine
• Hybrid approaches in phototmedicine
• Image-guided therapeutics

Optical Coherence Tomography and Coherence Techniques

Contributed papers are solicited, but not limited to, the following areas:

• Optical coherence tomography (OCT) technology and systems
• Coherent imaging system, theory and signal processing
• Clinical applications of OCT
• Frequency/Spectral/Fourier domain OCT
• Functional OCT, such as spectroscopic, Doppler, polarization-sensitive and second-harmonic OCT
• Contrast enhancement techniques for OCT
• Novel light sources and MEMS probes for OCT
• Optical coherent techniques for tissue spectroscopy and imaging
• Fourier optics in tissue imaging
• Coherent light microscopy
• Speckle analysis and methods for speckle reduction
• Adaptive coherent optical systems

Therapeutic Laser Applications and Laser-Tissue Interactions

Contributed papers are solicited concerning, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Photo-biological and photo-chemical reactions
• Photo-thermal and photo-mechanical tissue reactions
• Modeling of laser-tissue interactions
• Cellular micro- and nano-effects of laser radiation
• Laser-induced microdissection and catapulting of cells
• Tissue ablation and cutting with short and ultra-short laser pulses
• Hard tissue ablation, benign tissue destruction
• Photodynamic therapy (PDT) of tumors, neoplasia and other pathologic conditions
• Antimicrobial PDT, PDT-mediated immunology
• Cellular mechanisms of low-power laser therapy
• Minimally invasive laser surgery
• Laser applications in NOTES
• Progress in therapeutic laser applications
• In vitro, ex vivo, preclinical and clinical studies
• Experiences in clinical laser application