EC
Biophotonics has crucial advantages in healthcare for diagnostics and treatment.
It has outstanding possibilities related to chemical specificity and functional information. It is generally non-invasive, potentially non-contact. It allows deep sensitivity within tissue, quantitative operator independence and production of scalable devices.
These factors make Biophotonics unique from other modalities, but despite many good ideas in the laboratory, few of these reach the market.
The adoption of shared procedures for performance assessment of devices and establishment of a consensus in standards can stimulate the deployment of novel Biophotonic techniques for clinical use by increasing the reliability and reproducibility of results.
The workshop was very well attended, both in the room and via webstreaming, and participants reported that it was very useful and timely.
In fact, in several fields it was reported that there currently is a strong desire for standardization as research moves into clinical trials. Europe is currently very advanced in several fields, and the issue is considered critical for European future competitiveness.
Standardization will, however, require mobility funding to exchange materials or travel between labs. It was felt that the roles of both the European Commission and the industry will be important in this regard and should be promoted.
Several techniques and applications were discussed, Diffuse optics, Fluorescence Molecular Imaging, Photoacoustic Imaging, NIRS Oximetry Devices, Breast Imaging Optical Techniques and Ophthalmology.
A comprehensive report about the event can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.