{"id":20434,"date":"2021-07-12T14:58:41","date_gmt":"2021-07-12T13:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/photonics.laser2000.co.uk\/?p=20434"},"modified":"2026-01-05T13:16:47","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T13:16:47","slug":"fighting-cancer-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stagingphotonics.laser2000.co.uk\/?p=20434","title":{"rendered":"Fighting Cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-ir-hyperspectral-microscope-allows-label-free-digital-pathology-improving-the-medical-diagnostics-workflow-advances\">IR-Hyperspectral Microscope allows Label-Free Digital Pathology, improving the medical diagnostics workflow.&nbsp;Advances&#8230;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-label-free-digital-pathology-is-here\">Label-Free Digital Pathology is Here<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\"><strong>What is Digital Pathology?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"Contents\">Digital Pathology is a rapidly expanding ecosystem of whole-slide scanning and bioinformatics solutions, which is revolutionizing the medical diagnostics workflow. Digital Pathology systems offer high-throughput, cost-effective solutions for collecting, storing, and interpreting digital images of stained (labelled) tissue specimens.&nbsp;With the number of new cancer cases predicted to increase steadily to over 20 million by 2030, digital pathology has been pivotal in increasing throughput with slide scanners, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.<sup>1<\/sup>&nbsp;These techniques continue to be validated as the FDA approves new instruments and processes, such as the Phillips IntelliSite Pathology Solutions (PIPS).<sup>2<\/sup>&nbsp;These powerful, well-established techniques continue to form the backbone of the pathology workflow but require substantial ongoing investments in high-quality sample preparation to maintain accuracy and efficiency.&nbsp;Find more information on Digital Pathology at https:\/\/digitalpathologyassociation.org\/.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Until recently, chemical staining or labeling, by using&nbsp;IHC&nbsp;stains or fluorescent tags was the only viable option for a researcher or pathologist to visualize diagnostic markers present within the tissue sections.&nbsp;Furthermore, using labels limits the potential for discovering new biomarkers within the sample.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\">Label-Free Digital Pathology<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The Digital Pathology community is working hard to offer a new class of powerful&nbsp;<em>label-free<\/em>&nbsp;digital imaging solutions which could greatly reduce healthcare costs while simplifying the histology workflow and accelerating discovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second harmonic generation (SHG) and mid-infrared (MIR) microscopy are two examples of well-established optical techniques which have recently demonstrated viability as label-free digital pathology solutions due to advancements in technology and ease-of-use. For example, MIR digital imaging recently experienced a greater than 100-fold increase in throughput enabling single large-tissue specimens to be analyzed in minutes rather than days. This enhancement was made possible through the advent of new MIR quantum cascade laser (QCL) sources employed in a novel wide-field illumination mode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The MIR spectral region, roughly spanning 3,000 to 12,000 nm, is rich in organic molecular information which can be analyzed to perform quantitative digital tissue classification, identify and track disease progression and study the tumor microenvironment. At the&nbsp;PURE Institute, a research team, led by Professor Dr. Klaus Gerwert, is using&nbsp;<a href=\"\/products\/light-detection-and-imaging\/spectroscopy-hyperspectral-imaging\/ir-hyperspectral-imaging-spectroscopy-hyperspectral-imaging\/high-performance-laser-based-ir-chemical-imaging-microscope\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Spero-QT\u00ae<\/a>&nbsp;MIR microscopes to perform fast, label-free, automated tissue classification of cancer tissues.<sup>3<\/sup>&nbsp;By coupling quantitative MIR data with advanced machine learning and AI image analysis, the research group at PURE has demonstrated the ability to automate tissue image analytics and the rendering of differential diagnoses in multiple organ systems. To date, the team has analyzed 110 tissue samples from stage-2 colorectal cancer patients and results indicated 100% selectivity and 96% sensitivity compared to classical histopathology. The team also compared results from two different Spero-QT machines and found that results were independent of the machine or user, paving the way for its broader implementation of Spero-based digital pathology.&nbsp;Larger colon cancer studies and other primary organ studies are underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Spero-QT microscope is the only commercially-available QCL-based, wide-field MIR digital imaging platform on the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>References:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/ebookshopdownloads.iarc.fr\/03afb088c7283515346dc24238d0ef3e7474b8a5fa9286182bbcc58ec68633c9\/World%20Cancer%20Report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">World Health Organization \u2013 World Cancer Report 2014<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/newsevents\/newsroom\/pressannouncements\/ucm552742.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">FDA \u2013 News Release<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-018-26098-w\">Kuepper, Claus, et al. \u201cQuan<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-018-26098-w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tum Cascade Laser-Based Infrared Microscopy for Label-Free and Automated Cancer Classification in Tissue Sections.\u201d&nbsp;<em>Scientific Reports&nbsp;<\/em>Volume&nbsp;8, Article&nbsp;number:&nbsp;7717&nbsp;(2018):&nbsp;doi:10.1038\/s41598-018-26098-w<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Other Blogs\/Articles that may be of interest:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"\/why-is-mid-ir-light-important\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Why is Mid-IR Light so Important?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"\/engineered-point-spread-functions-psf-for-single-molecule-localisation-microscopy-smlm-with-our-partner-double-helix-optics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Engineered Point Spread Functions (PSF) for Single Molecule Localisation Microscopy (SMLM)<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"\/nanoscopy-for-less-than-100k\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nanoscopy for less than \u00a3100k?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"\/understanding-the-jargon-of-lcos-spatial-light-modulators-slms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Understanding the jargon of LCOS Spatial Light Modulators (SLMs)<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"\/spatial-light-modulator-applications\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Spatial Light Modulator Applications<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>To book a demonstration or loan&nbsp;of the Spero-QTand&nbsp;to speak to one of our engineers by contacting us here:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link\" href=\"\/contact-laser-2000\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Contact Us<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link\" href=\"#Contents\">Back to Top<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IR-Hyperspectral Microscope allows Label-Free Digital Pathology, improving the medical diagnostics workflow.&nbsp;Advances&#8230; Label-Free Digital Pathology is Here What is Digital Pathology? Digital Pathology [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,25,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs","category-featured-blogs","category-microscopy-blogs"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.6 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Fighting Cancer with Label-Free Digital Pathology - Laser 2000<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Find out how Label-free Digital Pathology helps identify cancerous cells to battle rising cancer cases within the UK.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fighting Cancer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Find out how Label-free Digital Pathology helps identify cancerous cells to battle rising cancer cases within the UK.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/stagingphotonics.laser2000.co.uk\/?p=20434\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Laser 2000\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-12T13:58:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-05T13:16:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ashish.khanna.uk@gmail.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ashish.khanna.uk@gmail.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stagingphotonics.laser2000.co.uk\\\/?p=20434#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stagingphotonics.laser2000.co.uk\\\/?p=20434\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ashish.khanna.uk@gmail.com\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stagingphotonics.laser2000.co.uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f260f7a829ec1e4f3ddb78199afd3883\"},\"headline\":\"Fighting Cancer\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-12T13:58:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-05T13:16:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stagingphotonics.laser2000.co.uk\\\/?p=20434\"},\"wordCount\":625,\"articleSection\":[\"Blogs\",\"Featured Blogs\",\"Microscopy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stagingphotonics.laser2000.co.uk\\\/?p=20434\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stagingphotonics.laser2000.co.uk\\\/?p=20434\",\"name\":\"Fighting Cancer with Label-Free Digital Pathology - 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