Laser World of Photonics India 2013 (LWOP India), one of the leading trade exhibitions in the country, is all prepared to set the momentum of a relatively new field of Biophotonics in India. The three-day exhibition, to be held from November 12 to 14, 2013, will encompass parallel conferences by scientific and industrial experts to discuss latest laser product and solutions for the burgeoning sectors such as medical engineering and photonics. The event is scheduled to be organized by Messe München International at the Bombay Convention & Exhibition Centre (BCEC), Mumbai.

Biophotonics, a field that unites biology and photonics, is the science of generating and harnessing light (photons) to image, detect and manipulate biological materials. It is a niche and emerging area of scientific research that uses light and other forms of radiant energy to understand the inner workings of cells and tissues in living organisms. It is used in biology to study and probe for molecular mechanisms, function of proteins, DNA and other important molecules. Besides, biophotonics also finds application in medicine to study tissue and blood at the macro (large-scale) and micro (very small scale) organism level to detect, diagnose and treat diseases in a way that are non-invasive to the body.

However, it is the pharmaceutical sector that is awaiting major breakthrough with the opportunities and the latent potential seemingly evident in biophotonics. With the a rather stagnant rate at which the drugs are being discovered, there is an urgent need to expedite the process and reduce cost as well as to avoid wasting time/money exploring drugs that fail to be efficacious or have unwanted side effects. Biophotonics technologies can contribute significantly to meet these challenges. Further this can also be used to identify targets for intervention in disease progression pathways which forms a major part of drug discovery.

The recent outbreak of new life threatening diseases such as swine flu has necessitated new tools to monitor the responses to candidate drugs, both in pre-clinical testing and clinical trials. This includes responses at the genetic, molecular and functional levels. Similarly, there is a need to determine rapidly if candidate drugs actually do what is intended, especially at the target-cell/tissue mechanism level. In this context many biophotonics developers are engaged in drug efficacy studies of treatment responses using in vivo animal imaging with novel probes (nanoparticles, enzyme-activatable, bioluminescence).

With the varied application of biophotonics in medical, pharma and related fields, LWOP India 2013 will prove to be an ideal platform to technologically aware and equip participants about the importance of photonics in bio sector. The event will exhibit products and solutions focusing on medicine, biotechnology, environment and nutrition, methods and techniques, spectroscopy, microscopy and imaging. Therapies, manipulation techniques, methods and techniques, others.