Development of high resolution molecular imaging methods based on fluorescent and photoacoustic contrasts.

基于细胞和亚细胞功能的分子水平完整组织的发病机制成像正日益成为炎症反应的临床前成像、早期肿瘤检测和药物发现的关键技术，并具有大规模临床推广的巨大潜力。可能有几种成像方法可以提供分子信息，但光谱可能通过众多的荧光探测机制提供关于生物体中分子相互作用的最直接信息。目前荧光分子探针在可见光和近红外下的体内成像方法的主要局限性是光在生物组织中的快速扩散导致的空间分辨率较低，深度超过1 mm。目前的项目旨在开发新的高分辨率和高灵敏度的分子成像方法，以结合光学和光声方法重建活组织中深部的荧光生物分布。

Imaging of pathogenesis in intact tissues at the molecular level based on interrogation of cellular and sub-cellular function is increasingly becoming a key technology in preclinical imaging of inflammation responses, early tumor detection and drug discovery and holds strong potential for large-scale clinical propagation as well. There are possibly several imaging approaches that can provide molecular information, but the optical spectrum may offer the most direct information on the molecular interactions in living organism through numerous fluorescence probing mechanisms. The main limitation of the current in-vivo imaging methods of fluorescent molecular probes in the visible and near-infrared is the poor spatial resolution resulting from rapid light diffusion in biological tissues at depths exceeding 1mm. The current project aims in developing new high resolution and high sensitivity molecular imaging methods for reconstruction of fluorescence bio-distribution deep in living tissues based on combination of optical and photoacoustic approaches.