UK researchers have used vibrational spectroscopy to chemically image the cross section of a prostate to such an incredible level of detail that each of the 66 million pixels in the image represents a piece of 
tissue only 5.5 × 5.5µm.
Biopsies are regularly taken to diagnose cancer and provide a snapshot of the disease. Trained histopathologists examine the samples under powerful optical microscopes using several specialist stains to highlight particular characteristics of cells or tissues in a time-consuming process.
Peter Gardner of the University of Manchester and colleagues hope their technique, which uses Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) chemical imaging, will eventually be turned into an automated system that can grade and stage biopsy samples 24 hours a day by identifying certain chemical signatures.
To read the full article, please visit Chemistry World.
Whole organ cross-section chemical imaging using label-free mega-mosaic FTIR microscopy
Paul Bassan, Ashwin Sachdeva, Jonathan H. Shanks, Mick D. Brown, Noel W. Clarke and Peter Gardner
Analyst, 2013,138, 7066-7069
DOI: 10.1039/C3AN01674A, Communication
