Shedding the Polarized Light on Biological Tissues

This book explores the early-stage detection of cancer using polarized light. It discusses the diverse properties of the light (temporal and spatial coherence, polarization, fluorescence, etc.) that can be used non-invasively as an optical technique for recognizing precancerous lesions, which could become a reliable and accurate method for cancer screening. The search for the effective means for cancer screening is of particular interest to scientific and medical communities, because cancer takes its toll around the globe with no respect for age or gender. Early detection of the disease is a key factor in increasing the survival rate and patients' quality of life.

Dr Tatiana Novikova received her PhD in Physics and Mathematics from the Institute of Mathematical Modelling, Moscow (Russia) and Habilitation in Optics from University Paris-Sud, Orsay (France). Since 2002 she is a research scientist at the group of Applied Optics and Polarimetry in the Laboratory of Physics of Interfaces and Thin Films in Ecole polytechnique, Palaiseau (France).  Her research activities focus on physics of polarized light, interaction of electromagnetic waves with matter, biomedical engineering and computational physics for the development of new optical techniques for non-invasive diagnostics, target detection in turbid media, metrological applications of polarimetry. Dr Novikova served as a Guest Editor for the Special Section of Journal of Biomedical Optics 'Polarized Light for Biomedical Applications' (July 2016). She was a Chairman of Program Committee of 1st European workshop 'Biophotonics and Optical Angular Momentum'.  Dr Novikova is SPIE and OSA member, author of more than 50 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals and proceedings of international conferences; over 60 presentations at international conferences, symposia and workshops, including 9 invited talks.

Dr. Alexander Bykov, PhD (Phys), DSc (Tech) is the leading researcher at the Opto-Electronics and Measurement Techniques Laboratory in the University of Oulu (Finland). Dr Bykov has over ten-year research experience in photonics and biomedical optics, supported by the University of Oulu's strategic development grants, as well as by the Academy of Finland and European funding bodies. He established an active collaboration with the Pathology Department in Oulu Hospital focusing on optical biopsy and screening cancer tissues in vitro with coherent polarized light. He is author and co-author of over 75 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals and proceedings of international conferences including 4 invited book chapters; Over 45 presentations at the international conferences, including 6 invited lectures during last year.
Professor Igor Meglinski, MSc, PhD, is a Head of Opto-Electronics and Measurement Techniques Laboratory in the University of Oulu (Finland). For the last 20 years his research interests lie at the interface between physics, optical and biomedical engineering, sensor technologies and life sciences, focusing on the development of new non-invasive imaging/diagnostic techniques and their application in medicine & biology, material sciences, pharmacy, food, environmental monitoring, and health care industries. He pioneered the application of circularly polarized light for cancer diagnostics. He is the Node Leader in Biophotonics4Life Worldwide Consortium (BP4L), Fellow of the Institute of Physics (UK), and Fellow of SPIE. Professor Meglinski is author and co-author of over 220 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals, proceedings of international conferences, books, book chapters, patents and professional magazines; over 450 presentations at major international conferences, symposia and workshops, including over 200 invited lectures and plenary talks.