In the Light4LIFE innovation network, the partners LIFE-Zentrum (Laser and Immunology Research Centre at the University of Munich Clinical Centre), Thorlabs GmbH and bayern photonics e.V. are carrying out research into the range of clinical applications for biophotonics. In doing so, the network seeks to establish close contact with Russian scientists. The network is supported in this by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of the ongoing country campaign Russia.
Russia plays a special role in the field of biophotonics. In Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow and Novosibirsk are important research centres in Russia for biophotonic research. With the OCT imaging procedure, a cross-section of tissue structures can be displayed up to several millimetres below the surface, in a similar way to ultrasound. Yet up to one hundred times more accurate, because with OCT, objects smaller than ten microns can be displayed. Whereas the ultrasound scanner only displays tissue, OCT shows the cellular level.
OCT is a procedure for verifying singularly backscattered photons, i.e. light particles, which were scattered only once after infiltrating the tissue. These photons provide information about the position of cells and tissue structures, to which they were scattered. This produces detailed tissue images, which are used in dermatology and ophthalmology, for example for examining diseased retina or for inflammations of the skin.
Optical biopsy as the target
Scientists in the German Light4LIFE network are working on technical solutions to expand the application of the procedure. The target application in daily clinical practice is not only on the surface of the body, but also inside the body by means of endoscopic procedures. New devices are being developed to enable 3D imaging. The result would be a less invasive, more individual and speedy diagnosis. With the appropriate special technology for endoscopic applications, OCT is already being used today in gynaecology, urology and otorhinolaryngology to make tumours visible.
German-Russian network
At the "Topical Problems of Biophotonics" symposium from 21 to 27 July 2013 in Nizhny Novgorod, biologists, physicists, neuroscientists and medics exchanged ideas about topical research questions and the challenges of biophotonics. Dr Herbert Stepp and Dr Ronald Sroka from LIFE-Zentrum at Munich University used the specialist forum to introduce the Light4Life project and to report on the close collaboration between German and Russian scientists in biophotonics. Not least thanks to a German-Russian workshop for clinical biophotonics provided by LIFE-Zentrum at the "Topical Problems of Biophotonics 2011" event, the Light4LIFE network maintains contact with several Russian scientists and doctors, specifically in the OCT field. In 2012, Light4LIFE took part in the Zdravookhraneniye, the "International Exhibition for Health Care, Medical Engineering and Pharmaceuticals" in Moscow.
