We have reported many different ways in which barcodes are used outside of eCommerce, asset organisation and stock taking on this website. From barcodes on tombstones to enhance grieving, barcodes on bottles to help you find the girl of your dreams, and barcodes glued to ants to monitor social patterns in insects, barcode labels have become a fundamental tool for research and an aid to enhancing society in the modern world.
Barcodes-a major tool in care and science
Perhaps the most heartening aspect is how it is used in science, and biology and accident prevention. Recently we reported on how it is used by nurses and doctors to ensure patients are linked to correct data and information and how Mercedes are developing their cars to use barcodes to reduce fatalities following road crashes.
Microscopic barcodes
For some time, Scientists and researchers have been aware of the fact of how a barcode tag can be used to identify individual cancer cells and hence help to understand how cancer spread. Its use in this arena continues to advance and now scientists are able to predict outcomes with such illnesses as prostate cancer.
Monitoring the progress of cancer
These barcodes are microscopic in size. they are so tiny they can attach themselves to cells in the body. By using the same principal of a barcode they can keep track of individual cancer cells and and monitor how they change over time. Made up of a series of colored dots that glow under ultraviolet light, the bar code help biologists attach ID tags to individual cells. The colored dots are fluorescent proteins, originally discovered in a type of glowing jellyfish.
Prediction and prognosis
Recent studies suggest that Genetic barcodes can actually predict the onset of cancer and also how therapy is likely to progress and allow doctors to a more accurate prognosis of the illness. developed by Heinz-Ulrich Weier the technology also improves tumor staging and patient stratification for most cancers, including leukemia, melanomas, breast and thyroid cancers, and differentiates them from benign diseases.
Tanto labels provides a range of products and services, we supply, install and support World-class barcode label printers and associated hardware, combined with specialist label printing software and other value added services. Contact us