In this section
We use light to develop advanced diagnostic tools, wearable sensors, and microscale robots for studying diseases and enabling minimally invasive treatments.
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.
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.
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).
Dr Belal Ahmad
Imperial College Research Fellow
Dr Qian Chen
Clinical Research Fellow
Dr Ahmed Ezzat
Research Postgraduate
Dr Nilanjan Mandal
Research Associate in Optical Sensing for LMICs
Dr Alexander J Thompson
Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sensing
Mr Zeyu Wang
Research Postgraduate
@article{Li:2023:10.1002/adsr.202200039,
author = {Li, X and Keshavarz, M and Kassanos, P and Kidy, Z and Roddan, A and Yeatman, E and Thompson, A},
doi = {10.1002/adsr.202200039},
journal = {Advanced Sensor Research},
pages = {1--12},
title = {SERS detection of breast cancer-derived exosomes using a nanostructured Pt-black template},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adsr.202200039},
volume = {4},
year = {2023}
}
TY - JOUR
AB - At present, there are no cancer treatments that are both non-invasive and highly accurate. New tests that can diagnose cancer at an early stage would help to facilitate such improved therapies, and many recent studies have focused on the development of liquid biopsy tests for this purpose. Exosomes are extracellular vesicles secreted by cells as a means of communication that can be simply collected from blood samples. Current studies have shown the potential of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) in differentiating cancerous cells from healthy cells. Herein, a bespoke platinum-black (Pt-black) SERS template is developed—via a cost-effective fabrication method of electroplating—to detect malfunctioned (cancerous) exosomes. The results demonstrate that the Pt-black SERS substrate exhibits stable and consistent spectra, which produces the high reproducibility required for a reliable diagnostic template. More importantly, using the Pt-black SERS template allows for the differentiation of cancer-derived exosomes (extracted from 4T1 cells—a triple-negative breast cancer cell line) and exosomes from healthy fibroblast cells with an 83.3% sensitivity and a 95.8% specificity. This study establishes the potential of the Pt-black template in detecting cancerous exosomes and lays a solid foundation for future studies in the clinical application of SERS in cancer diagnosis.
AU - Li,X
AU - Keshavarz,M
AU - Kassanos,P
AU - Kidy,Z
AU - Roddan,A
AU - Yeatman,E
AU - Thompson,A
DO - 10.1002/adsr.202200039
EP - 12
PY - 2023///
SN - 2751-1219
SP - 1
TI - SERS detection of breast cancer-derived exosomes using a nanostructured Pt-black template
T2 - Advanced Sensor Research
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adsr.202200039
UR - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adsr.202200039
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/102708
VL - 4
ER -
The Hamlyn Centre
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Imperial College
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