Clinicians may one day be able to snap an iPhone picture of a suspicious mole and use a USC-developed technique to determine it’s cancer risk, according to an article published in Nature Methods.

Known as Hyper-Spectral Phasor Analyiis (HySP), the technique uses fluorescent imaging to tag molecules, similar to PET imaging. However, HySP can pick out several different types of molecules at once, giving doctors and researchers a more complete picture.

“Biological research is moving toward complex systems that extend across multiple dimensions, the interaction of multiple elements over time,” said postdoctoral fellow Francesco Cutrale. “By looking at multiple targets or watching targets move over time, we can get a much better view of what’s actually happening within complex living systems,” Cutrale said.

HySP was developed at the University of Southern California’s Translational Imaging Center, known for its use of advanced imaging to study developing embryos and disease patterns of Multiple Sclerosis and Alzheimer’s Disease.

Follow the link below to read about the complex development process and long terms prospects of HySP.