An apparatus for
in vivo profiling a region of
biological tissue to determine its state of
mutation is provided. The apparatus includes a
light source configured to generate at least one
light beam, an optical arrangement configured to form the
light beam into an optical probe beam for illuminating the region of
biological tissue and receiving a Raman backscattered optical
signal from the region of
biological tissue, wherein the optical arrangement is further configured to filter the Raman backscattered optical
signal to generate a filtered optical
signal. The apparatus further comprises an
optical detector configured to receive the filtered optical signal to generate a corresponding
detector signal including one or more components indicative of one or more molecular species present in the region of biological tissue; and a
data processing arrangement configured to process the
detector signal to determine from the one or more components a concentration of the one or more molecular species to compute the state of
mutation of the biological tissue.