Research scientists at the University of Michigan have created a new type of laser that has been made from human blood. The new laser technology was invented using both human blood as well as a fluorescent dye. The researchers believe that this new technology will allow scientists to better locate and target tumors within the human body.
To create the laser, the scientists needed an amplifier (the dye), a reflective cavity and a light source. Apparently, the dye, and the whole process of creating the laser, can’t happen without the human blood element. Once the dye and the blood are shot with electricity or light, the atoms begin to move rapidly into what physicists call an “excited” state. The excited atoms will continue to accelerate and crash into each other until enough protons are released to create the laser beam.
It was the blood, however, that created the light beam. The dye, they project, will embed itself into such areas as tumors because the dye tends to pool up in blood vessels and should allow such things as tumors to stick out like the proverbial sore thumb.
The scientists will soon be testing on animal subjects and, hopefully, progress to human patients. They want to continue testing and calibrating their new laser before moving on to live tissue. If the laser is too strong, they say, then the tissue could be severely burned in the process of being examined.
The last several years has seen some rather peculiar and unusual materials used to produce lasers such as jelly and, in 2011, a team produced a laser using a live kidney.
PHOTO CREDIT: University of Michigan