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try, which is trying to move away from monochromatic optical fibers to colormultiplexed optical fibers, Wach explains. Nevertheless, the new probe may be useful for both clinical diagnostics and pharmaceutical studies. In the current paper, the researchers report that they were able to collect spectra from arterial walls and plaques in vivo and in vitro and distinguish vulnerable plaques from calcified plaques. The high-risk vulnerable plaques have an obvious signature, Puppels says. “For example, [they] lack the very distinctive signal contributions from hydroxy apatite—the calcification—that is present in [stable] plaques,” he explains. “They also show a strong signal contribution [from] cholesterol.” Best of all, the data can be collected quickly. Once the probe is in place, samples can be measured in
