60 years of the medical physics revolution

The ability to visualize immune responses non-invasively would have tremendous value for basic immunology. In pre-clinical models it would be possible to track events such as the host response to infections, to look at inflammation more generally, and to follow the course of interventions such as checkpoint blocking antibodies in the treatment of tumours.

PET imaging agents require a workflow compatible with the half-life of commonly used isotopes, and must take into account the pharmacokinetic properties of these agents. The specificity of what is being imaged requires the design of compounds that can distinguish between differences in metabolic activity (18F-fluorodeoxyglucose) or that serve as ligands for specific receptors, such as antibodies that recognize surface structures. We have used nanobodies, the smallest antibody-derived fragments that retain antigen-binding capacity. These fragments are ~15 kDa in size, are rapidly cleared from the circulation and are easily modified by chemo-enzymatic means for the installation of metal chelators or click handles to enable radiolabelling. Using nanobodies, we have been able to image various populations of immune cells, and based on longitudinal immuno-PET observations we have been able to make predictions of success and failure in immunotherapy of the B16 mouse melanoma model. The use of 89Zr-labelled nanobodies for immuno-PET will be a powerful adjunct to more conventional, invasive models, and will provide resolution superior to fluorescence- and luminescence-based models.

If you are interested in learning about photonics simulation using the COMSOL Multiphysics® software, then tune into this webinar.

Photonics (the generation, detection, and manipulation of light) plays a fundamental role in modern technology. It is used in a wide range of applications, such as telecommunications, medicine, computing, and manufacturing.

During this webinar, we will discuss using COMSOL Multiphysics® for photonics simulations, in particular periodic structures and crystals. We will show how modeling can provide insight into the design and characterisation of photonic devices. This includes solving for the propagation of electromagnetic waves, even in the presence of wavelength-dependent material properties, as well as multiphysics effects like heating or mechanical loading.

The webinar includes a live demonstration and a Q&A session during which you can ask questions.

After the first demonstration of an optical frequency comb based on a mode-locked laser in 1999, Ti:sapphire lasers with repetition rates around 1 GHz were the sources of choice for scientists around the world. Their key feature was a mode spacing 10 times higher than that of comparable 100 MHz sources (simplifying mode identification) and the ability to generate a fully coherent super-continuum with 100 times more power per mode either directly from the cavity or using an external microstructured fibre (enhancing signal-to-noise ratio). The world’s first optical atomic clock was built in 2001 using a 1 GHz Ti:sapphire laser and subsequently it has been shown that these lasers indeed support an accuracy at the 10–20 level with a 1 s stability at the 10–17 level and optical linewidths at the millihertz level, i.e. ideal candidate clockworks for a new generation of optical atomic clocks. The Ti:sapphire technology has even been taken out to as far as 10 GHz, a regime where individual modes with powers in excess of 1 mW can be separated with a grating spectrometer and used individually for direct spectroscopy, spectrograph calibration or optical arbitrary waveform generation.

To overcome some of the disadvantages of early Ti:sapphire lasers (requirement for frequent alignment, cleaning and use of AO modulators for control purposes) and to make the full advantages of GHz frequency comb technology accessible to the science community, Laser Quantum has developed the hermetically sealed and permanently aligned taccor 1 GHz Ti:sapphire laser featuring an integrated pump laser with direct pump power control. This intervention free laser forms the basis for the new taccor comb system featuring an f-2f interferometer and full comb-stabilization electronics.

This webinar reviews the benefits of gigahertz Ti:sapphire frequency combs and focuses on the recent progress using Laser Quantum‘s hermetically sealed line of taccor lasers.