Polarimetric Accessory for Colposcope

In medical diagnostic procedures for examining the cervix and the tissues of the vagina and vulva, long working-distance (-30 cm) lighted binocular microscopes (colposcope) that provide up to 25x optical magnification are used to create an illuminated magnified view. Speculum dilations can give rise to specular reflections from the tissue surface, causing physicians to overlook possible abnormalities – thus decreasing the quality of a colposcopy. 

Two- and Three-Dimensional Autoradiographic Imaging Utilizing Charge Coupled Devices

A novel two- and three-dimensional autoradiographic device offers to improve the imaging of body tissues. Numerous methods and apparati have been proposed to produce a three-dimensional map or image of a distribution of radioactively-tagged tissues or chemical substances; however, many of these devices merely detect the radiation, not image it. This new device uses a charged coupling device (CCD) in combination with a microtome to produce numerous two-dimensional images of the radioactively-tagged tissue.

Spatial and Temporal Control of Gene Expression Using a Heat Shock Protein Promoter in Combination with Local Heat

In many instances, it is desirable to express exogenous genes only in certain tissues, and/or at will at certain times, and/or only to a certain degree. However, current gene transfer and exogenous gene expression protocols do not provide adequate means of simultaneously controlling which cells in a heterogeneous population are transformed and when, where, and to what degree the transferred genes are expressed. The invention provides methods for using local heat to control gene expression.

Spatially Selective Fixed-Optics Multicolor Fluorescence Detection System For Microfluidic Device

Available for licensing and commercial development is a new scheme for sensitive spatially resolved and spectrally resolved laser-induced fluorescence detection from multiple microfluidic channels. The prototype instrument has been developed and is versatile in that it contains only fixed optical parts and has simultaneous five-color detection from eight microchannels in a plastic microchip for DNA analysis. The detection scheme could be applied to fluorescence detection for any microchip-based analysis in a transparent substrate.

Image Guided Systems and Methods for Organ Viability Assessment

The number of patients for organ transplants continues to grow, without an increase in the number of organs available for transplant. This has increased interest in transplanting organs from non-traditional sources, such as donations after cardiac death. However, there are currently no methods to objectively measure the effects of resuscitation and ischemia damage on organ viability.

System and Method for Producing Nondiffracting Light Sheets that Improves the Performance of Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy (SPIM)

The technology offered for licensing relates to a system and method of producing nondiffracting beams of light that spatially overlap, but do not interfere with each other when intersecting the detection plane of an optical arrangement. The system includes an illumination source (i.e.

A Novel Optomechanical Module that Enables a Conventional inverted Microscope to Provide Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy (iSPIM)

The invention describes an optomechanical module that, when engaged with a conventional inverted microscope, provides selective plane illumination microscopy (iSPIM). The module is coupled to the translational base of the microscope whereby a SPIM excitation objective is engaged to one portion of the mount body, and a SPIM detection objective (having a longitudinal axis perpendicular to that of the excitation objective) is engaged to another portion of the mount body.

Fast Acting Molecular Probes for Real-Time In Vivo Study of Disease and Therapeutics

This technology is for fast acting molecular probes made from a fluorescent quencher molecule, a fluorophore, an enzyme cleavable oligopeptide (for example targeted by protease) and FDA-approved polyethylene glycol (PEG) as well as associated methods to identify cell activity with these probes. Proteases regulate many cell processes such as inflammation as well as pathological processes in cancer and cardiovascular disease. High protease activity is associated with metastatic cancers. Proteases are also active in apoptosis, and tissue remodeling in cardiovascular disease.

Magnetic Resonance Arterial Wall Imaging Methods that Compensate for Patient Aperiodic Intrinsic Cardiac, Chest Wall, and Blood Flow-Induced Motions

The technology includes MRI methods, systems, and software for reliably imaging vasculature and vascular wall thickness while compensating for aperiodic intrinsic motion of a patient during respiration. To overcome the loss of the orthogonality due to uncompensated residual motions and after a lapse of time equal to the trigger delay commenced at the cardiac cycle, the system acquires multiple consecutive time-resolved images of the arterial wall. The cine images are processed offline and a wall thickness measurement is produced.

Software to Improve the Quality of Microscopy Images

Available for licensing and commercial use is software based on an iterative deconvolution procedure that recovers images that have been blurred by a known point spread function. The software provides superior results when multiple independent observations of the same specimen are obtained. An example of such observations might be the multiple views of a specimen collected by a selective illumination plane microscope (SPIM).
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