Optical Fiber Will Help to Diagnose Disease in the Future
Online, April 10, 2014 (Newswire.com) - The backbone of the modem internet is based on fiber optic cable to link the world together. Currently, the limited applications of optical fiber just only transnit data and information. But, what else can we do using the glass fiber? Fortunately, there are always some people in the world who can lead the development of the technology.
These days, Researchers around the globe are tantalizingly close to using the same glass fibers found in the telecom equipment to house a new generation of chemical sensors. The purpose of the research is to reduce healthcase costs dramatically and make your next chechup a bit less of hassle.
The idea of a lab-on-a-fiber is similar to a lab-on-chip, which already exists. But using a integrated electronic chip in human health is that the body is very wet in side. In the wet conditions, the metal semiconductors chip can be corroded. Moreover, the chips are too large to be implanted in the body.
The glass fiber can be threaded directly into the blood vessels for real time monitoring and can bear the wet body.
Shouldn' t there be a way to use all this fabulous modern technology to make everything faster and easier? Scientist imagine to use fiber. The inner surface of a standard fiber optic cable is coated with tiny amounts of germanium oxide, making it more reflective. When light is sent down the cable, it bounces off the inner surface and remains confined to the core. That's why fiber optic cables can transmit data so far with little to no signal loss.
The optical fiber can control when and how light leaves the core to detect target molecules. The lab-on-a-fiber research is going on. In the beginning, We can see the lap-on-a-fiber be used in the indurstry application before human applications. In industrial scenarios, optica fibers can be uesed to monitor for chemical contamination from manufacturing facilities, waste runoff, or pesticides.
With the light fiber into humans, the pharmaceutiacl innovation will be repid development, and disease treatments are more precise. But, think that doctors might soon diagnose you by feeding a lab-on-a-fiber straight into your veins in the near future, i will afraid to go to the hospital.