Beckman Institute researchers Gabriel Popescu and David Mayerich report in separate papers in the current issue of Biomedical Optics Express on research that has implications for detecting and understanding diseases like cancer and sickle cell anemia.

Mayerich, a Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow, is lead author on a paper titled Fast macro-scale transmission imaging of microvascular networks using KESM that reports on a fast new method for mapping blood vessels. The method used a technique called knife-edge scanning microscopy (KESM) to provide a full, three-dimensional image of the structure of a vascular network in a mouse’s brain. To read the paper, click here.

Two papers from Popescu’s Quantitative Light Imaging Laboratory at Beckman were published in the current issue. One paper, titled Born approximation model for light scattering by red blood cells, reports on using a light imaging method called Fourier Transform Light Scattering (FTLS) to assess the shape of red blood cells, an important topic since misshapen blood cells are a sign of serious illness. To read the paper, click here. The other paper, Simultaneous optical measurements of cell motility and growth, describes using an imaging method developed in their lab called spatial light interference microscopy (SLIM) to measure  both cell growth and morphogenesis. To read the paper click here.   

Biomedical Optics Express is the journal of The Optical Society.