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New cancer treatment has always been a topic that generates heightened interest in patients as well as oncologists. Those suffering from the disease are always looking for a new cure to eradicate their illness while oncologists are on the lookout for better and effective treatments.
While old school oncology treatments have been effective to a limited extent, a new technique that uses infrared light has shown a lot of promise. Professor Kevin Belfield has made effective use of the light to probe lysosomes for a longer duration as opposed to the existing techniques.
The exact frequency of the near infrared light enables one to look deep into the lysosomes and get past obstacles like sensitive pH levels and water solubility. This in turn allows probing of the cell at a relaxed pace, which gives deeper insights into the contents as well as other critical aspects of the examination.
Until now, oncologists were limited to a very superficial study of the lysosome cell since the current techniques were bound by severe limitations. However, with Professor Belfield’s technique that uses infrared light, cells can now be probed and adapted in a way that can help in the detection of proteins that are usually found in tumors. This further leads one to believe, that someday, tumors will be easily detected and in turn be treated far more effectively.
Belfield considers this slant to be a “game changer”. He believes that with the development of these probes, comes stability and imaging that can be conducted over a longer period of time as opposed to the current limitation of only a few minutes. With the realization of this new light projected at a certain identified frequency, researches are able to capture lysosome images for hours.
With the discovery of this innovative approach, researchers will find it rather easy and convenient to capture images at the workplace and thus contribute significantly towards discovering solutions for terminal diseases such as Cancer. Researches also believe that this approach will help contribute towards the solution for a fatal genetic disorder found in children called Tay- Sachs.