SpectraScience, Inc. announced that it has been awarded US Patent number 7,469,160 for its methods and apparatus for evaluating image focus. This technique allows a user to focus an optical instrument quickly enough to obtain data within an optimal window of time. The user focuses an optical instrument by aligning laser spots that are projected onto a tissue sample within rings which are superimposed at predetermined locations within the user's visual field. It further allows automatic validation to detect whether the spots are sufficiently well-aligned. Accurate data acquisition and fast focusing techniques are critical for earlier and more effective identification of normal, pre-cancerous or cancerous tissue. It allows the LUMA Cervical Imaging System to detect more ASCUS/LSIL cervical cancer precursors than colposcopy alone. It provides clinicians with a valuable tool to fight against cervical cancer. National Cancer Institute-sponsored clinical trial which demonstrated that colposcopy failed to detect 33% of high-grade precancerous lesions in women referred with questionable Pap results was added by Hitchin. SpectraScience holds approximately 60 patents worldwide that have been issued or are pending for its WavSTAT Optical Biopsy and LUMA Cervical Imaging Systems. These are non-invasive optical devices that are used to diagnose tissue quickly to determine if it is normal, pre-cancerous or cancerous. Currently WavSTAT and LUMA Systems are approved by the FDA for detecting pre-cancerous and cancerous tissue in the colon and cervix respectively. An evaluation of the WavSTAT for detection of pre-cancers in the throat ("Barrett's esophagus") is being tested.