Biophotonics

Optics and its many microscopy and imaging techniques offer tools particularly suited to the analysis and study of objects of biological interest. Recent developments in nanophotonics have also offered new approaches (FRET, fluorescence microscopy, etc.). In therapy, lasers are used to cure eye diseases or certain cancers. Hyperthermia (destruction of cancer cells by heating specifically attached gold nanoparticles) is another recent biomedical application.