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{Ennis:2023:10.1002/adfm.202213947,
author = {Ennis, A and Nicdao, D and Kolagatla, S and Dowling, L and Tskhe, Y and Thompson, AJ and Trimble, D and Delaney, C and Florea, L},
doi = {10.1002/adfm.202213947},
journal = {Advanced Functional Materials},
title = {Twophoton polymerization of sugar responsive 4D microstructures},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202213947},
volume = {33},
year = {2023}
}
TY - JOUR
AB - Stimuli-responsive hydrogels have attracted much attention owing to the versatility of their programmed response in offering intelligent solutions for biomimicry applications, such as soft robotics, tissue engineering, and drug delivery. To achieve the complexity of biomimetic structures, two photon polymerization (2PP) has provided a means of fabricating intricate 3D structures from stimuli-responsive hydrogels. Rapid swelling hydrogel microstructures are advantageous for osmotically driven stimuli-response, where actuation speed, that is reliant on the diffusion of analytes or bioanalytes, can be optimized. Herein, the flexibility of 2PP is exploited to showcase a novel sugar-responsive, phenylboronic acid-based photoresist. This offers a remarkable solution for achieving fast response hydrogel systems that have been often hindered by the volume-dependent diffusion times of analytes to receptor sites. A phenylboronic acid-based photoresist compatible with 2PP is presented to fabricate stimuli-responsive microstructures with accelerated response times. Moreover, microstructures with programmable actuation (i.e., bending and opening) are fabricated using the same photoresist within a one-step fabrication process. By combining the flexibility of 2PP with an easily adaptable photoresist, an accessible fabrication method is showcased for sophisticated and chemo-responsive 3D hydrogel actuators.
AU - Ennis,A
AU - Nicdao,D
AU - Kolagatla,S
AU - Dowling,L
AU - Tskhe,Y
AU - Thompson,AJ
AU - Trimble,D
AU - Delaney,C
AU - Florea,L
DO - 10.1002/adfm.202213947
PY - 2023///
SN - 1616-301X
TI - Twophoton polymerization of sugar responsive 4D microstructures
T2 - Advanced Functional Materials
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202213947
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/103256
VL - 33
ER -
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