Infrared microscope installed in Bari for advanced medical diagnostics

The first infrared microscope of its kind in Italy has been installed at the PolySense Lab within the Interuniversity Department of Physics at the University and Polytechnic of Bari. The device, a quantum cascade laser infrared microscope manufactured by Bruker Corporation valued at 450,000 euros, is designed to distinguish healthy cells from diseased ones by analyzing the chemical composition of tissues without the need for dyes or reagents.

The technology provides detailed images of biological tissues by reading their molecular fingerprints. Integrated with artificial intelligence algorithms, the system can assist in recognizing pathological cells and classifying diseases, such as prostate cancer. Researcher Andrea Zifarelli noted that the tool will aid pathologists by providing chemical information about the tissue's internal makeup, moving beyond traditional morphological analysis of tissue shape.