Exploring biological world with invisible light
This section is working on various applications and new developments in the area of near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) as non - destructive technology for monitoring and diagnosis of biological objects. Qualitative and quantitative analysis applied in biological- and food-related research and technology, as well as understanding new phenomena related to water in biology are the main area of interest.
Near infrared is the range of electromagnetic spectrum between the visible and infrared light. It is only slightly absorbed by water, unlike visible light that is almost entirely reflected or infrared that is readily absorbed by it. This particular feature provides a unique tool to explore water-rich substances like biological objects. One technical difficulty in interpreting results is the fact that NIR range exhibits broad absorbance bands representing several absorbance peaks. In order to reveal the specific information contained in those broad peaks, the spectral data is submitted to multivariate analysis. Thus the use of NIRS has been strongly linked to the evolution of methods in multivariate analysis, chemometrics. In fact, the development of new chemometrics methods for even more precise NIR spectral information extraction is a significant part of what makes NIRS the diagnostic tool our laboratory is working on developing.
NIRS has been successfully applied for in-vivo diagnosis of mammary gland inflammation in dairy cows followed by identification of the bacterial pathogens. Oxidative stress, prion disease in rats and mosaic virus in soybean plants are other successful examples of non-invasive diagnosis based on in vivo tissue spectra acquisition and analysis. Various molecular level studies have been related to food functionality and on-line monitoring of a fermentation process proved to be a good tool for a feedback on food production line. Recently, a new scientific area, Aquaphotomics, has been proposed by our laboratory. The aim is to describe and understand biological systems through the multidimensionality of water - light interaction expressed as a spectral pattern.
Our laboratory puts emphasizes on internationalization and focused on practice education. We conduct seminars on both Japanese and English, go to international conferences to present research and often visit farms, do joint research projects with farms and companies. It is an interdisciplinary environment with students and researchers coming from different backgrounds, with often visits from foreign professors and company research institutions. Here each student develops his/her own research project and is encouraged to exchange knowledge and ideas between team members. We welcome everyone who wants to explore biological world through the prism of Near Infrared technology!