Medical Diagnostics
Increased competition, more sophisticated technologies and the ever-changing landscape of research challenges — from health issues associated with aging populations to the emergence of more virulent diseases — have created a growing demand for analytical instrumentation that’s smaller, faster and more sophisticated with each successive generation.
Ocean Optics provides spectrometers, embedded systems, optical sensors and other tools to solve research, development and point-of-care diagnostics measurement challenges. Setups can be configured for lab, industry and OEM requirements, with applications ranging from blood and biological samples monitoring to cancer detection and tissue analysis.
Featured:
OEM Spectrometers and Systems
Miniature spectrometers for embedding into OEM devices for laboratory and point-of-care diagnostics.
Example Setup: Biological Sample Analysis
Overview
The illustration shown here represents a bioreactor environment where oxygen is monitored in headspace and oxygen and pH are monitored in a biological solution. This demonstrates the range of sensing and sampling options available for oxygen and pH measurement and the use of absorbance and fluorescence spectroscopy for measuring biological samples.
Oxygen Measurement
In this setup, we use two NeoFox Phase Fluorometers equipped with bifurcated optical fibers for the excitation and detection of RedEye oxygen-sensitive patches. NeoFox measures the phase shift between a blue LED used to excite the oxygen indicator in the patch and the emission signal of the fluorescence. The phase fluorometers measure the partial pressure of dissolved or gaseous oxygen.
The fibers are situated normal to the outside surface of the flask pointing directly at the patches on the inside. One patch is used for the headspace measurement and one patch is used for the solution.
pH Measurement
To measure pH we use the USB2000+ spectrometer with integrated tungsten halogen light source and a bifurcated optical fiber. One leg of the fiber transmits light to the patch inside the container and the other leg of the fiber reads the response from the reflective patch inside the solution. Standard pH buffers can be used for calibration. The spectrometer measures the colorimetric (absorbance) response of the pH dye.
Additional Measurements
Spectrometers, probes, light sources and accessories also can be configured for measuring absorbance, transmission and other parameters of blood, tissue and other biological samples.
Oxygen Measurement System – Components
| NeoFox-GT Phase Fluorometer (2) | One fluorometer measures the oxygen in headspace and the other measures the oxygen in the solution. |
| RE-BIFBORO-2-xx (2) Fiber Assembly | Bifurcated optical fiber with borosilicate fiber bundle has one fiber to transmit excitation to the patch and one fiber to collect the response. Available in 1000 µm, 600 µm or 300 µm diameters. |
| RedEye Oxygen Patches | Select from among patch diameters (4 mm and 8 mm) and sensor formulations (general purpose coating, high-sensitivity coating or highly robust coating). Single patches and packs of 5 patches are available. |
| NeoFox Viewer software | Windows-based software allows users to collect, manage and analyze data with NeoFox systems. |
| Calibration Service | Recommended for applications where the sample cannot be maintained at a constant temperature (+/- 1 °C). Calibration service covers environments from 0-80 °C and is optimized for the sensor coating formulation being used and the temperature and oxygen concentration ranges of the sample environment. |
pH Measurement System – Components
| USB2000+ Spectrometer | We recommend configuring the USB2000+ for visible measurements from 350-1000 nm and using a 50 µm entrance slit. |
| HL2000+ Light Source | Tungsten halogen source provides VIS-NIR illumination. |
| RE-BIFBORO-2 Bifurcated Fiber Assembly | Bifurcated optical fiber with borosilicate fiber bundle has one fiber to illuminate the patch and one fiber to collect the response. Available in 1000 µm, 600 µm or 300 µm diameters. |
| PH-BCG-REFLECT pH Patches | These reflective pH patches can be used with colored or turbid samples, and are meant to be applied to the inner wall of a clear vessel or process flow. Each order comprises a pack of 5 sol gel-entrapped bromocresol green pH sensors. |
| OceanView software | Spectrometer operating software |
Absorbance measurements of animal blood samples diluted in DI water confirm that all three blood samples have some degree of cell lysis, with peaks near 414 nm and between 500-600 nm.
An optical oxygen sensing method measures oxygen consumed by cells when different amounts of yeast are added to diluted blood samples.
Reflection spectra of neonatal skin help to determine blood volume fraction in the tissue.
NIR absorbance measurements of glucose samples of differing physiological concentrations in saline.
