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Polarimetry is a powerful optical tool in the biomedical field, providing more comprehensive information on the sub-wavelength micro-physical structure of a sample than traditional light intensity measurement techniques. This review summarizes the concepts and techniques of polarization and its biomedical applications. Specifically, we first briefly describe the basic principles of polarized light and the Mueller matrix (MM) decomposition method, followed by some research progress of polarimetric measurement techniques in recent years. Finally, we introduce some studies on biological tissues and cells, and then illustrate the application value of polarization optical method.

The status of the field of analysis of biological material using PIXE and complementary ion beam techniques are discussed. The development of PIXE with relevance to biology and the future prospects of Bio-PIXE are described.

Chinese Scientists Find Genes for Hypertension.

Taiwanese Scientists Support Radio-pharmaceutical Research.

Anti-microbial Peptide Gene Cloned for Genetic Medicine.

Japanese Scientists Find Local Delicacy Prevents Dioxin Accumulation.

Taiwan Focuses on Research to Find Liver Cancer Genes.

New Low-cost Technology for Wheat Cultivation.

Supercomputing R&D Center Set Up in Singapore.

Australia Establishes New Health Institute.

Can Chinese Medicine and Biomedicine Converge?

Integrative Medicine: East Meets West.

Ginseng: Nature’s “Cure-All”.

Due to their significant biomedical and industrial applications, nanotechnology and nanoparticles have gained significant interest in the modern era. Metal nanoparticles (NPs) have particular qualities that keep academics interested in learning more about their value. Among the several noble metal NPs, silver (Ag) has captured the public’s attention. Typically, dangerous chemicals that are bad for both human health and the environment are used to make AgNPs offering a promising and innovative alternative to conventionally synthesized NPs. This study focuses on the contemporary advancements in the production of environmentally friendly silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and their potential applications in the field of biomedicine.

Women’s health is an often-overlooked aspect of medicine. The National Institutes of Health has emphasized the importance of investigating ‘sex as a biological variable’ in all new research grants. This has placed emphasis once again on the need for more nuanced studies that explore the role of sex as a biological variable on study outcomes. This session sought to elicit participation from researchers with strong backgrounds in women’s health and informatics to develop methods that harness big datasets and ‘big data techniques’ including machine learning and artificial intelligence and apply those tools to women’s health questions. Some important questions discussed in this section include Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and the importance of early identification along with C-section deliveries and the importance of emergency vs. elective procedures.

The advancements in molecular biology have made biotechnology a billion-dollar business over the last two decades. Recent developments in instrumentation, nano-technology and information technology have provided the biomedical research community with enormous amounts of diverse information governing biological systems. Consequently, there is an urgent need for information storage, curation, analysis and retrieval (ISCAR) using bioinformatics tools. Though the very definition of bioinformatics is debatable, there is a general agreement about the importance of certain fundamental concepts. Broadly, bioinformatics is the marriage between modern biology and information technology to glean new knowledge from redundant databases. Bioinformatics helps researchers gather, standardize, combine and manipulate data to tease out the knowledge they contain. In future, it will guide in performing in silico biotechnological experiments to aid biomedical research and application. Hence "SILICO BIOTECH" highlights the simple relationships between different disciplines that govern the complex drug discovery process and its relevance in health care.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), precision medicine is “an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each person.” Although the text mining community has explored this realm for some years, the official endorsement and funding launched in 2015 with the Precision Medicine Initiative are beginning to bear fruit. This session sought to elicit participation of researchers with strong background in text mining and/or visualization who are actively collaborating with bench scientists and clinicians for the deployment of integrative approaches in precision medicine that could impact scientific discovery and advance the vision of precision medicine as a universal, accessible approach at the point of care.