Quantitative Nanoscale Imaging of Trace Elements in Biological Systems

我们建议的项目包括研究新的化学成像方法，用于细胞和组织中微量元素的2D和3D可视化，大大提高了灵敏度，易于可靠性和放大，超过了现有的方法。这项技术包括强大的激光，用于均匀和高灵敏地探测从高能粒子轰击的生物标本中喷射出的原子和小分子。结果是样本的多元素化学图谱显示了亚细胞长度尺度上的细节。我们将展示这种方法在检测和定位细胞和模型组织中的癌症药物方面的力量。然而，我们将开发的方法学将更广泛地适用于一些涉及微量元素运输、储存和分配的重要生物学问题。这包括但不限于药物开发、疾病诊断和基础细胞生物学。

The project we propose involves research into novel chemical imaging methodology for 2D and 3D visualisation of trace elements in cells and tissues with greatly improved sensitivity, easy of reliability and magnification over current approaches. The technology includes powerful lasers for the uniform and highly sensitive detection of atoms and small molecules ejected from biological specimens under bombardment from high energy particles. The result is a multi-element chemical map of the specimen showing detail on the sub-cellular length scale. We shall demonstrate the power of this approach in the detection and localisation of cancer drugs in cells and model tissues. However, the methodology we will develop will be more widely applicable in a number of important biological problems involving trace element transport, storage and distribution. This includes but is not limited to drug development, disease diagnosis and fundamental cell biology.