Invention:
This patented technology uses a light emitting diode (LED) to achieve the same imaging results as a laser source, without damaging the tissues.
Background:
Laser sources are the current standard in fluorescent imaging techniques, but lasers can damage tissue samples over time. This technology is based on a technique used in high energy physics for scintillation counting, which optimizes the transient recording of fluorescence using the gating paradigm of photomultiplier tubes (PMT) for use in biology. Therefore, this technology is powerful enough to accomplish what current laser excitation can, without the tissue damage over time.
Applications:
- Fluorescence instrumentation (measuring concentration changes, particularly in biological samples for this invention)
- Detection of gas changes
- Mining
Advantages:
- The LED used in this prototype decreases the occurrence of degradation
- LEDs have low power and broad spectrum relative to lasers
- The absorption spectrum of LED can be better matched than lasers and
- Capable of minimizing photobleaching
Status: issued U.S. patent #9,867,250
