STARSTEM Coordinator, Prof. Martin Leahy, gave an online lecture at the annual National Laser Symposium (NLS) that is organised by the Indian Laser Association (ILA).
The 29th National Laser Symposium, 20th in a series sponsored by the Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences of the Department of Atomic Energy, was organised in collaboration with the Indian Laser Association and Shri Vaishnav Vidyapeeth Vishwavidyalaya, Indore during February 12-15, 2021.
Lasers and Nanotechnology in Regenerative Medicine Abstract:
Regenerative medicine promises to reverse blindness, lameness, organ failure and many other diseases, often by introducing stem cells to the affected site. However, they have not yet fulfilled their potential, partly because we don’t know where stem cells go and what they do deep inside organs of real living humans. We recently identified a general limit of medical imaging which encapsulates the challenge; current technologies do not allow visualization of objects more than 200 times smaller than the depth. For example, cells more than c. 1 mm into typical human tissues like the skin cannot be imaged by any technology. The TOMI lab won a €6M EU H2020 grant to develop technologies to see deeper and smaller and with greater sensitivity than ever before. We go beyond the depth/resolution limit by demonstrating nanosensitive OCT to follow structural changes in cells and tissues at the nanoscale.
Using a unique star-shaped gold nanoparticle made in Galway, which resonates in the low scattering and absorption window, allows us to see deeper and with greater sensitivity than ever before. The combination of long wavelength (1064 nm), tip field enhancement and energy transfer make this particle the brightest ever made. We combine this with photoacoustic imaging, so that we can use diffuse light to illuminate the tissue and ultrasound which is not scattered, to see where it was absorbed. A key Leahy patent will allow photoacoustic images to be calibrated for the first time, allowing quantitative measurements of stem cell concentration, blood oxygen etc. The particle is magnetized so that is also visible in MRI. We will demonstrate this enhanced imaging in Cambridge during stem cell therapy for osteoarthritis of the knee.