NEWS
DIAGNOSTICS
Microscope for skin disease
BUSINESS MARIA BURKE
University of British Columbia (UBC) researchers have designed a laser system that they say could revolutionise diagnosis and treatment of conditions such as skin cancer and eye diseases. It allows doctors to scan tissue, detect any abnormalities, and then perform ultra-precise surgery without cutting into the skin. Damaged blood vessels are found in disorders such as cancer, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. Conventional laser therapy can help but has limitations: it can only penetrate tissue to a certain depth and could potentially affect surrounding healthy blood vessels. The UBC team says their specialised
microscope allows imaging of living tissue up to about 1mm in depth, but what sets it apart is that it can also treat the tissue by intensifying the heat produced by the laser. The team set out to make a technology, called multiphoton absorption microscopy, more versatile while also increasing its precision. ‘We wanted to be able to identify what was happening under the skin from many different angles and to have the capability of imaging different body sites,’ says senior author Haishan Zeng, professor of dermatology, pathology and physics at UBC. The researchers used a tightly focused near-infrared (NIR) femtosecond laser beam. Once they achieved that objective, they
worked on transforming the diagnostic device into a treatment device by ‘simply turning up the power of the laser’, he continues. They found they could close targeted single blood vessels without affecting other vessels and surrounding tissues. Zeng says they are the first to achieve fast video-rate imaging that enables clinical applications, and also the first to develop this technology for therapeutic uses. The researchers believe the microscope has great potential for treating skin diseases as it should allow doctors to pinpoint the precise location of any abnormality, diagnose it and treat it instantly. Possible applications include treating nerves or blood vessels in the skin, eye, brain or other structures that can be reached by light. ‘We can alter the pathway of blood vessels without impacting any of the surrounding vessels or tissues,’ says study co-author Harvey Lui, professor at the department of dermatology and skin science at UBC. ‘For diagnosing and scanning diseases like skin cancer, this could be revolutionary.’ The researchers are exploring a miniature version that could be used to perform microscopic examinations and treatment during endoscopy.
Climate friendly bankers
MARIA BURKE
The Bank of Italy has approved new investment criteria that single out companies that take action on climate change and exclude those that do not adopt UN principles on the environment, human rights, labour and anti-corruption. It will use an independent adviser to identify the best opportunities for investment. These criteria will apply by the end of June 2019 to the Bank’s shareholdings – worth €8bn – and, at an unspecified later date, to its corporate bond holdings, worth €1bn. It says that, as a result, greenhouse gas emissions from companies in its portfolio will fall by 23%, and energy and water consumption will drop 30% and 17%, respectively.
The Bank is a member of the
Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), which has 36 members including the Bank of England. The NGFS acknowledges that climate- related risks are a source of financial risk and require collective action. In April 2019, launching its first collective report (
banque-france.fr/en/financial- stability/international-role/network- greening-financial-system/first-ngfs- progress-report), Frank Elderson, NGFS chairman, noted that the financial risks from climate change are ‘analytically difficult, unprecedented and yet very urgent’. The NGFS reports that much analytical work remains to be done to equip central banks and supervisors with appropriate tools to identify, quantify and mitigate climate risks in the financial system. Over the next year, the NGFS will publish technical
documents to help, covering topics such as incorporating sustainability criteria into central banks’ portfolio management. The report makes four
recommendations for central banks: to integrate climate-related risks into financial stability monitoring and micro-supervision; integrate sustainability factors into own- portfolio management; bridge data gaps; and build awareness and intellectual capacity; and encourage technical assistance and knowledge- sharing.
The NGFS also calls on policymakers
to achieve internationally consistent environment-related disclosure, and support the development of a taxonomy of economic activities. ‘The coordinated action of central
banks to identify and manage the systemic risks of climate change on the real economy and the financial system is very important,’ says William Blyth, associate fellow at Chatham House and director of Oxford Energy Associates. The NGFS recommendations will help the shift towards greater scrutiny by investors, he adds. ‘I suspect the greening of Bank of Italy’s own portfolio will have only a small direct effect because of the relatively small scale of its commercial holdings, but should contribute to the wider indirect signals being sent to the commercial market by the NGFS actions.’ ‘This is just the start of the pressure that the banks and financial markets will put on companies to adjust,’ says Kingsmill Bond of the financial thinktank Carbon Tracker. ‘Companies need to adjust to survive the energy transition in any event.’
8 06 | 2019
VOLKER STEGER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
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