ON THE COVER: Overlooked by Andean volcanos, the Bofedeles de Parinacota is an ecologically important wetland in the Chilean altiplano, where Nostoc sheets bearing diverse epimicrobiota occur in pools surrounded by bird flocks and grazing herds of camelids such as guanaco (Lama guanaco), llama (Lama glama), vicuna (Vicugna vicugna), and alpaca (Vicugna pacos).
An optical fan was demonstrated to screen leukemia cells from the blood sample at the single‐cell level in a noninvasive and noncontact manner. Further details can be found in the article by Xiaoshuai Liu, Yuchao Li, Xiaohao Xu, Yao Zhang, Baojun Li ( e201900155 ).
This study proposed a Sparse‐Graph Manifold Learning (SGML) method to balance the sparseness and morphology preserving for bioluminescence tomography reconstruction. It inherits the benefits of non‐convex sparsity constraint and dynamic Laplacian graph model. The results of numerical simulations and in vivo experiments demonstrate that the proposed method yields accurate and robust results in terms of tumor spatial location and morphology recovery. Further details can be found in the article by Hongbo Guo, Ling Gao, Jingjing Yu, et al. ( e201960218 )
Transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) with wavelength at 808 nm was applied to a rat model of acute seizures. The tPBM successfully attenuated convulsive status epilepticus, and the tPBM was shown to reduce the apoptosis of parvalbumin‐positive interneurons (PV‐INs) and preserved the integrity of perisomatic inhibitory network of PV‐INs to principle cells in the hippocampus. Further details can be found in the article by Chung‐Min Tsai, Shwu‐Fen Chang, and Hsi Chang ( e202000095 ).
Lake Inle, a pristine lake in Myanmar, is known to harbor a number of endemic aquatic species and is a home to an enigmatic cyanobacterium Oscillatoria kawamurae, which was first reported in Lake Biwa (Japan). Macroscopic trichome (upper left), microscopic image (upper middle). Photos by Phong San (Lake Inle) and Nanda Kyaw Thu (O. kawamurae). See Thu et al. in this issue. Cover picture from: Article link here
Beautiful underwater view of an edible brown alga, Sargassum fusiforme (Fucales, Phaeophyceae) at the rocky shore in Sakurajima, Kagoshima, Japan (Photo by Ryuta Terada). Characteristic responses of the PSII photochemical efficiency on desiccation and salinity gradients in S. fusiforme are reported by Yonemori et al. in this issue.
Immunofluorescence image of Plasmodium berghei sporozoites (red) in HeLa cells 1.5 hours post infection. The parasitophorous vacuole membrane (PVM) that surrounds the parasites was stained with antibodies against the PVM‐resident protein UIS4 (grey). DNA was stained with DAPI (blue). Imaging was performed on a Leica SP8 confocal microscope. For further details, readers are referred to the article by Bindschedler et al. on p. e13271 of this issue.
Top-left: Viburnum opulus in Iwaya, Aomori, Japan. Top-center: Viburnum plicatum in Kibune, Kyoto, Japan. Top-right: Viburnum dilatatum in Iwakura, Kyoto, Japan. Bottom-left: Viburnum sieboldii in Mt. Nabejiri, Shiga, Japan. Bottom-center: Viburnum erosum in Kurama, Kyoto, Japan. Bottom-right: Viburnum phlebotrichum in Aburazaka, Fukui, Japan. Photos by Akira Armando Wong Sato Wong Sato & Kato (2021) Decorative sterile flowers in nine Japanese species of Viburnum (Adoxaceae) and their infl uence on pollinator visits. https://doi.org/10.1111/1442-1984.12347
A novel 0.9 mm-diameter intravascular photoacoustic catheter with coaxial excitation and detection was developed to overcome the limitation of imaging range. A miniature ring-shaped ultrasound transducer with a 0.18 mm-diameter orifice in the center was successfully fabricated. The results demonstrated that the coaxial catheter exhibited much better photoacoustic/ultrasound imaging performance from the intima to the adventitia. Further details can be found in the article by Riqiang Lin, Qi Zhang, Shengmiao Lv, Jiaming Zhang, Xiatian Wang, Dongliang Shi, Xiaojing Gong, and Kwok-ho La ( e202200269 ).
The first post-pandemic face-to-face international conference in Biophotonics took place in Porto in April 2022. High quality and inspiring presentations have been delivered by leading scientists and internationally recognized professionals, standing on the forefront of Biophotonics research and representing broadness of the field. A selected number of these presentations resulted in the papers that are presented in this special issue. The cover images were selected from Hoffer et al., Lomanovskaya et al., Li et al., and Burton et al. (clockwise).
The figure shows the detailed morphology of vasculature and dynamic changes of the blood vessel diameter and density and the oxygen saturation in the blood vessels in fetal brain after acute prenatal ethanol exposure in the second‐trimester equivalent murine model obtained using a real‐time photoacoustic tomography (PAT) system. Further details can be found in the article by Tianqi Shan, Yuan Zhao, Shixie Jiang, Huabei Jiang ( e201960161 ).
Cover Image Tulipa pumila. This photo was taken by Sandro Pratesi at Doccino at the municipality of Riparbella, province of Pisa, Tuscany, Italy (DOI: 10.1111/1442-1984.12267 ).
CRISPR-Cas9 system with PEG-mediated transfection was efficient for genome editing in Ulva prolifera. U. prolifera (left) and male gametes (middle). Wild type (upper right) and the genome-edited strain (lower right) cultured in 2-FA selection medium, and each mutation site on the APT gene. See Ichihara et al. in this issue.
This work addresses an unmet clinical need, that of glaucoma monitoring through intraocular pressure (IOP) interrogation in patients with artificial corneas (keratoprost hesis). We demonstrate direct integration of a low‐drift, fiber‐optic Fabry‐Perot pressure sensor embedded in the keratoprosthesis via rapid, non‐contact micromagnetic fiber alignment. IOP interrogation is achieved by using white‐light interferometry, which provides sub‐mmHg IOP sensitivity. Further details can be found in the article by Pui‐Chuen Hui, Katia Shtyrkova, Chengxin Zhou, et al. ( e202000031 ).
This study presents a novel intraoperative in vivo imaging approach which harnessed Cerenkov luminescence (CL) to detect primary and metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) using clinically approved radiopharmaceuticals. In the mice and swine experiments, the proposed approach effectively improved the effect of CRC surgery. The approach is believed to be promising for utilizing CL in open surgery. Further details can be found in the article by Zeyu Zhang, Yawei Qu, Yu Cao et al. ( e201960152 )
Successful therapy of twin‐to‐twin transfusion syndrome requires accurate imaging to guide laser photocoagulation of the anastomosing placental vessels. Photoacoustic (PA) imaging is an alternative imaging method that provides contrast for hemoglobin, and in this study, it was used to visualize chorionic superficial and subsurface vasculature in human placentas. The strong potential of PA imaging to guide minimally invasive fetal therapies was demonstrated. Further details can be found in the article by Efthymios Maneas, Rosalind Aughwane, Nam Huynh, et al. ( e201900167 ).
