In ophthalmology, nothing works without lasers anymore. Researchers led by Professor Oliver Stachs, Head of the Experimental Ophthalmology Group at Rostock University Medical Center, and Professor Heinrich Stolz from the University of Rostock have developed a three-dimensional laser-based microscopy method that allows cell structures of the eye to be visualized in perspective orders of magnitude faster.
With the patent-pending biophotonics process - the science of the interaction between organic material and light - new microscopy methods can first be tested on cell and animal models and then transferred to clinical-experimental applications. The idea, which is a three-dimensional laser-based microscopy of the eye, allows tissue layers to be imaged at the highest resolution in fractions of a second thanks to intelligent scanning technology.
The new method uses deliberately generated color errors of specially designed optics in combination with a laser that periodically changes its wavelength to change the depth of focus during microscopy. In contrast to conventional laser scanning microscopes, it is now possible to completely dispense with slow mechanical displacement elements for focus positioning. The new technique is therefore so fast that for the first time it is possible to take an image of a volume section of the cornea of the eye with full depth expansion in a little less than a second. This new method also allows particularly fast visualization of optical sections through the cornea.
For the first time, cell structures in the eye, in particular epithelial cells and nerves, can be visualized in real time without motion artifacts. The patent application thus lays the foundations for high-resolution quantitative microscopy of the cornea, which has great potential for improved diagnostics of surface diseases of the eye. Translation of the technology into other medical fields such as dermatology or gynecology appears possible.
Source: University of Rostock/W. Thiel
