NanoCharM organized the 1st workshop on "Polarization-based optical techniques applied to Biology and Medicine" which took place in Massy, close to Paris, France from 30 to 31 March 2009.

53 participants attended the workshop, from a wide panel of countries (France, United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Austria, Italy, Russia, Canada, USA, Algeria).

Fifteen invited talks described the techniques based on ellipsometry and polarimetry, in spectral and/or imaging modes, applied to the study of biological systems, such as the photonic structures found in butterflies or beetles, or well-identified medical applications. The latter included biochip development, polarimetric characterization of cornea and retina for enhanced diagnosis of various ophtalmological diseases, as well as polarimetric imaging of scattering tissues for cancer delimitation in dermatology and other fields.

More fundamental issues were also presented, about both polarimetry,e.g. how to derive information from the measured data, and biology, for example the conformational dynamics of proteins studied by time resolved circular dichroïsm in pump and probe experiments. Even though the workshop was primarily focussed on the use of various implementations of ellipsometry and polarimetry, more sophisticated optical techniques, such as Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) and Polarisation Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography (PS-OCT) were also presented, provided polarisation played a key role in their actual implementation.

Very active discussions followed each talk, and continued during coffee breaks as well as at the dinner organised on March 30 evening. Many contacts were taken for future exchanges and collaborations on this expanding research field.

In conclusion it was agreed by attendees that this NanoCharM 1st workshop on Polarimetry applications to biology and medicine was a valuable and fruitful opportunity to deepen their knowledge of polarimetry and broaden their opportunities for research among an international body of scientists with differerent and interdisciplinary backgrounds including optics, chemistry, biology and medicine.