Cancer diagnostic tools to be developed
Development of laser-based imaging and diagnostic techniques for early, noninvasive detection of tumors will be a major goal of the new Center for Laser Imaging and Cancer Diagnostics. Funded by a $1 million, three-year grant from the Department of Energy Office of Energy Research, the center will be run by a consortium led by City College of New York (CCNY; New York, NY). Robert R. Alfano, head of the Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers at CCNY, will direct the center. He says his team will focus on developing new cancer-diagnostic tools based on fundamental properties of lasers and their interactions with tissue. Optical fibers will direct light to tissue inside the body, where the photons will gather information for analysis, providing a histological picture below the tissue`s surface for in situ diagnosis.