We use light to develop advanced diagnostic tools, wearable sensors, and microscale robots for studying diseases and enabling minimally invasive treatments.
What we do
We use photonics to develop new technologies for medicine and to study the pathophysiology of disease. This includes new and improved diagnostic tools as well as microscale robotic devices for therapeutic applications. We use a variety of optical techniques for this purpose such as fluorescence, Raman and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, as well as microscopy and interferometry. We develop devices ranging from wearable sensors and fibre-optic probes for minimally invasive diagnostics through to microscale robots for cellular-scale manipulation and therapy.
Why it is important?
Our research has a number of potential clinical applications including improved monitoring of clinical therapies and interventions (e.g. in inflammatory bowel disease and malnutrition), early diagnosis of infection, and even margin mapping in tumour resection surgery.
How can it benefit patients?
The devices we are developing can potentially provide less invasive and lower cost diagnostics. In turn, this may facilitate patient benefits including earlier diagnosis, earlier identification of relapse (e.g. in therapy response monitoring applications), more widespread deployment and more comfortable patient experiences (e.g. through use of less invasive probes and sensors).
Meet the team
Results
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Journal articleTang T-YD, Hak CRC, Thompson AJ, et al., 2014,
Fatty acid membrane assembly on coacervate microdroplets as a step towards a hybrid protocell model
, Nature Chemistry, Vol: 6, Pages: 527-533, ISSN: 1755-4330Mechanisms of prebiotic compartmentalization are central to providing insights into how protocellular systems emerged on the early Earth. Protocell models are based predominantly on the membrane self-assembly of fatty-acid vesicles, although membrane-free scenarios that involve liquid–liquid microphase separation (coacervation) have also been considered. Here we integrate these alternative models of prebiotic compartmentalization and develop a hybrid protocell model based on the spontaneous self-assembly of a continuous fatty-acid membrane at the surface of preformed coacervate microdroplets prepared from cationic peptides/polyelectrolytes and adenosine triphosphate or oligo/polyribonucleotides. We show that the coacervate-supported membrane is multilamellar, and mediates the selective uptake or exclusion of small and large molecules. The coacervate interior can be disassembled without loss of membrane integrity, and fusion and growth of the hybrid protocells can be induced under conditions of high ionic strength. Our results highlight how notions of membrane-mediated compartmentalization, chemical enrichment and internalized structuration can be integrated in protocell models via simple chemical and physical processes.
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Conference paperThompson AJ, Tang T-YD, Herling TW, et al., 2014,
Quantitative sensing of microviscosity in protocells and amyloid materials using fluorescence lifetime imaging of molecular rotors
, Conference on Imaging, Manipulation, and Analysis of Biomolecules, Cells, and Tissues XII, Publisher: SPIE- Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers, ISSN: 0277-786XMolecular rotors are fluorophores that have a fluorescence quantum yield that depends upon intermolecular rotation. The fluorescence quantum yield, intensity and lifetime of molecular rotors all vary as functions of viscosity, as high viscosities inhibit intermolecular rotation and cause an increase in the non-radiative decay rate. As such, molecular rotors can be used to probe viscosity on microscopic scales. Here, we apply fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) to measure the fluorescence lifetimes of three different molecular rotors, in order to determine the microscopic viscosity in two model systems with significant biological interest. First, the constituents of a novel protocell – a model of a prebiotic cell – were studied using the molecular rotors BODIPY C10 and kiton red. Second, amyloid formation was investigated using the molecular rotor Cy3. © (2014) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
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Journal articleCoda S, Thompson AJ, Kennedy GT, et al., 2014,
Fluorescence lifetime spectroscopy of tissue autofluorescence in normal and diseased colon measured ex vivo using a fiber-optic probe
, Biomedical Optics Express, Vol: 5, Pages: 515-538, ISSN: 2156-7085We present an ex vivo study of temporally and spectrally resolved autofluorescence in a total of 47 endoscopic excision biopsy/resection specimens from colon, using pulsed excitation laser sources operating at wavelengths of 375 nm and 435 nm. A paired analysis of normal and neoplastic (adenomatous polyp) tissue specimens obtained from the same patient yielded a significant difference in the mean spectrally averaged autofluorescence lifetime −570 ± 740 ps (p = 0.021, n = 12). We also investigated the fluorescence signature of non-neoplastic polyps (n = 6) and inflammatory bowel disease (n = 4) compared to normal tissue in a small number of specimens.
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Journal articleKarim NHA, Mendoza O, Shivalingam A, et al., 2014,
Salphen metal complexes as tunable G-quadruplex binders and optical probes
, RSC ADVANCES, Vol: 4, Pages: 3355-3363, ISSN: 2046-2069- Author Web Link
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- Citations: 59
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Conference paperCoda S, Kelly DJ, Lagarto JL, et al., 2013,
Autofluorescence lifetime imaging and metrology for medical research and clinical diagnosis
We report the development of instrumentation to utilise autofluorescence lifetime for the study and diagnosis of disease including cancer and osteoarthritis. ©2013 The Optical Society (OSA).
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Journal articleCoda S, Thompson AJ, Lenz MO, et al., 2012,
Sa1609 Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging and Spectroscopy for Label-Free Contrast of Gastrointestinal Diseases
, Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Vol: 75, Pages: AB219-AB220, ISSN: 0016-5107 -
Journal articleThompson AJ, Coda S, Sorensen MB, et al., 2012,
In vivo measurements of diffuse reflectance and time-resolved autofluorescence emission spectra of basal cell carcinomas
, JOURNAL OF BIOPHOTONICS, Vol: 5, Pages: 240-254, ISSN: 1864-063X- Author Web Link
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- Citations: 34
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Conference paperCoda S, Kennedy GT, Thompson A, et al., 2011,
FLUORESCENCE LIFETIME IMAGING FOR LABEL-FREE CONTRAST OF GASTROINTESTINAL DISEASES
, International School of Physics "Enrico Fermi", Course CLXXXI "Microscopy Applied to Biophotonics"INTRODUCTION: Autofluorescence (AF) has been used to distinguish between normal and diseased tissue, but its molecular basis is still unclear and making quantitative intensity measurements is challenging. Fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) measures the decay rate of the autofluorescent signal from tissue, providing quantitative AF contrast. FLIM has been recently implemented by our group in three endoscopic instruments consisting of a confocal laser endomicroscope, a wide-field fibre-optic endoscope and a single point fibre-optic probe. FLIM has the potential to report on tissue structure and function in real-time during endoscopy, providing a label-free means to detect the early onset of diseases that cause changes in tissue AF. We are developing these 3 modalities for in vivo clinical application, supported by ex vivo studies on freshly-biopsied/resected GI tissues.AIMS & METHODS: The aim of this work is to translate our FLIM instrumentation from the optical bench to in vivo clinical application. AF from 43 endoscopic samples from different GI sites was excited using a conventional confocal FLIM microscope in the range 405-420nm, which is compatible with our FLIM endoscopes, and which is the range needed to excite a number of important endogenous GI tissue fluorophores such as porphyrins, flavins, collagen and elastin. The samples were collected from patients undergoing endoscopy, transported to the FLIM laboratory to be imaged and then submitted for histopathology. The following disorders were investigated: Barrett’s oesophagus, gastric cancer, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, adenomatous polyps and colon cancer. The accuracy of FLIM in discriminating dysplastic/cancerous samples from normal tissue has been tested by measuring the Area Under the Curve (AUC).RESULTS: Our preliminary data show that premalignant or neoplastic samples display either shorter or longer fluorescence lifetime than that of normal tissue. Increased lifetime val
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Conference paperCoda S, Kennedy G, Thompson A, et al., 2011,
FLUORESCENCE LIFETIME IMAGING OF GASTROINTESTINAL CANCERS
, European-Society-for-Medical-Oncology (ESMO) 13th World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer, Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PRESS, Pages: v65-v66, ISSN: 0923-7534 -
Journal articleThompson AJ, Paterson C, Neil MAA, et al., 2011,
Adaptive phase compensation for ultracompact laser scanning endomicroscopy
, OPTICS LETTERS, Vol: 36, Pages: 1707-1709, ISSN: 0146-9592- Cite
- Citations: 75
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