CCNY researchers awarded two U.S. patents for innovations in brain tumor detection

CCNY researchers awarded two U.S. patents for innovations in brain tumor detection

A new "resonance Raman" technique developed by world-renowned physicist Robert R. Alfano and his IUSL research group at the City College of New York raises hopes for rapid and more specific brain tumor diagnoses and is awarded two U.S. patents.

Light gives you much more molecular information than the usual methods such as chemical tests, x-rays, CAT scans, which all provide an image and not the content. Light can show you what the tissue is about at a molecular level and clarify the difference between good and bad tissue.

Robert R. Alfano, physicist

Robert R. Alfano is the distinguished professor of science and engineering at CCNY and an inventor with more than 120 patents.

Specifically, Alfano explained that the non-invasive method works using key wavelengths to stimulate the Raman effect through vibrations in the tissues of the brain, breasts and arteries. The colors emitted are different and are part of a larger set of optical methods he has developed since 1984, called optical biopsy. These methods will find their way into medical equipment.

The Raman spectrum is very weak because every million photons that penetrate a material are scattered by vibrations in the material. In a major new advance, the Raman effect is amplified a thousand-fold by resonance Raman (RR), enabling the detection of cancer using light from vibrations in tissues and cells. RR can also identify prominent margins that can help remove most of the malignant tissue.

The Raman effect was discovered in 1928 by CV Raman, who won the Nobel Prize in 1930. The first RR observation in tissue was made by Alfano in 1987 and later non-resonance Raman in 1991 for the diagnosis of cancer. This new work overcomes the weakness of Raman intensity and allows the Raman effect to advance into the medical field. It is used in hospitals in China to detect brain and other cancers.

This research, by Alfano's group at the CUNY Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers at City College, received RR US Patent No. 10,426,349. Ongoing research at CCNY to expand RR as an optical biopsy method and to develop resonantly stimulated Raman scattering microscopes using this compact laser, has received a second US Patent No. 10,281,331.

Known for his discovery of the supercontinuum, Alfano received the 2018 Inventor of the Year award from the Eastern New York Intellectual Property Law Association and the 2019 Gold Medal from SPIE.

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