 Beginning in 2003, Prof. Taflove has collaborated with Prof. Vadim Backman of Northwestern University's Biomedical Engineering Department in research aimed at the minimally invasive detection of early-stage human cancers of the colon, pancreas, lung, and ovaries.The techniques being pursued are based upon a spectroscopic microscopy analysis of light backscattered from histologically normal tissue located away from a neoplastic lesion in what has been termed the field effect.This may lead to a new paradigm in cancer screening where, for example, lung cancer could be reliably detected by analyzing a few cells brushed from the interior surface of a person's cheek.