SOFÍA RIVERO 1r Batx (10)

A camera inspired by
the eyes of the butterfly.

Summary:

It has been shown that butterflies of the genus Morpho detect different types of light, and this is very useful for detecting fluorescence-labeled cancer cells.

The camera inspired by the eyes of the butterfly.

Link:

http://www.quo.es/ciencia/una-camara-inspirada-en-los-ojos-de-la-mariposa

Publication date:

APRIL 05, 2018

Scientific field:

Biomimetics

Glossary:

Allow: admit an event or an activity as legal or acceptable.
Beyond: at or further side of.
Bind: tie or fasten (something) tightly.
Therefore: for that reason; consequently.


Analysis comment:

This article explains that a butterfly's complex visual system has inspired the creation of a camera that provides surgeons with a traditional color image and an infrared image at the same time, making fluorescence-labeled cancer cells visible even under bright surgical lighting.
This camera is designed to help kill all cancer cells without damaging healthy tissue, making it less likely that the cancer will spread and reducing the need for multiple surgeries.

Butterfly of the genus Morpho.

It explains too that butterflies, of the genus Morpho, have eyes that contain nanostructures that detect multispectral information: they can acquire near infrared and color information simultaneously.

On the one hand, a study shows that the camera can detect tumors in animals and is useful in testing the stage of the breast cancer in humans. 
The researchers use a butterfly-eye configuration by interlacing several nanoscale structures with a variety of photodetectors, allowing for the collection of very sensitive color fluorescence data, even with standard operating room and near-infrared illumination. The integration of the detector and the image optics in a single sensor keeps the device small, lightweight as it weighs less than an AA battery, economical because it can be manufactured for only about 15€ and it's insensitive to temperature changes.

On the other hand, the researchers tested their new instrument on a mouse model that develops spontaneous breast cancer, which means that the exact location where the cancer will grow is unknown, as well as the amount of cancer cells. 
And the researchers, using fluorescent tags that bind to the cancer cells, were able to prove that the new camera allowed for the detection of tumors with precision and sensitivity beyond the state-of-the-art approved infrared cameras.
One team also evaluated the ability of its infrared camera to identify lymph nodes in 11 breast cancer patients. And they were able to prove that under bright surgical lights, the instrument was 1,000 times more sensitive to fluorescence than the cameras currently approved for infrared image-guided surgery. 
In addition, the camera accelerated the process of identifying the lymph nodes and helped surgeons find those that could not be identified by previous methods. This may be possible because the imager can reveal the fluorescence that is deep within the tissue.

To conclude, this article is a succes for the medicine and for the biomimetics because that will allow to detect fluorescence-labeled cancer cells in both animals and humans. Thus, tumors and nodes can be detected and identified with greater precision and sensitivity than current cameras. Therefore, more cases of cancer will be cured.