Multiplexed 'Touch and Tell' Optical Molecular Sensing and Imaging

这个项目是关于多学科合作的，并在临床环境中资本化许多新的前景和机会。因此，这个研究项目汇集了一群世界级的科学家（物理学家、化学家、工程师和计算机专家）和临床医生，设计、制造和测试一个尖端的床边技术平台，帮助重症监护病房（ICU）的医生做出快速准确的诊断，为治疗提供信息，并确保患者迅速得到正确的治疗。虽然我们正在开发我们的技术平台，重点是ICU，但它也将适用于广泛的其他医疗保健情况。重症监护病房病人的死亡率和残疾率很高，对保健服务造成了不成比例的经济负担。潜在致命的肺部并发症是ICU通气患者的常见问题，在ICU照顾这些患者的医生面临许多挑战，通常需要在没有必要信息的情况下做出快速决定。该项目开发的技术平台将为医生提供ICU患者状态的重要信息，以及他们的肺部是否有感染、炎症或疤痕。目前还没有办法准确地做到这一点。这些信息将有助于他们做出治疗决定。一种快速诊断ICU肺部并发症的新方法将使医生能够针对适当的患者使用正确的药物，并有信心地撤回药物，从而改善患者的预后和主要的成本效率-从而彻底改变ICU护理。利用先进的光纤技术、微电子技术和新型传感器阵列，我们的突破性解决方案是创造一种新型的基于纤维的探针，可以很容易地进入ICU患者肺部和血管的气体交换区。探针将容纳各种特殊的光纤，其中一些允许临床医生“观察”肺部内部，而另一些将被传感器修改，可以测量血液和肺部的氧气浓度和酸度等重要参数。此外，这种纤维将提供微量（微剂量）的“智能试剂”，可以荧光检测可能损害肺部的特定细菌和其他物质。当这些信号综合在一起时，如果怀疑感染，将提供有关肺损伤程度或类型以及潜在致病“细菌”的高度具体信息。由于产生了大量的信息，为了便于医生解释，计算机专家将这些信号转换成易于理解的疾病读数，供临床医生使用。在巴斯大学、赫瑞瓦特大学和爱丁堡大学工作的化学家、物理学家、工程师、计算机科学家和生物学家将承担创建这个技术平台所需的不同元素的工作。至关重要的是，这个项目将把这些科学学科聚集在一个“中心”，在那里它们将并肩工作，促进目的的整合，并确保进展迅速转化为临床环境。这个跨学科的中心还将为新的博士生提供一个肥沃的培训基地，他们将学习跨学科的技能，这些技能将使他们能够应对将当前物理科学的“革命”转化为英国医疗保健的挑战。总之，这个项目将产生；1)一批接受过物理和生物科学培训的新科学家，他们对临床转化和商业化途径有充分的认识，并有能力应对将基础科学的进步转化为医疗保健效益的挑战；2)前沿床边技术平台，帮助ICU医生快速准确诊断。

This project is all about multi-disciplinary collaboration - and capitalisation in a clinical setting of the many new vistas and opportunities that will arise. As such this research programme brings together a group of world class scientists (physicists, chemists, engineers and computer experts) and clinicians to design, make and test a cutting-edge bedside technology platform which will help doctors in the intensive care unit (ICU) make rapid and accurate diagnoses that would inform therapy and ensure patients get the right treatment, quickly. While we are developing our technology platform with a focus on ICU, it will also be applicable to a wide range of other healthcare situations.ICU patients suffer high death and disability rates and are responsible for a disproportionate financial burden on the health service. Potentially fatal lung complications are a common problem in ventilated ICU patients and doctors caring for these patients in the ICU face many challenges, often needing to make snap decisions without the information necessary to properly inform those decisions. The technology platform developed in this programme will provide doctors with important information on the state of ICU patients and whether they have infections, inflammation or scarring in their lungs. Currently there are no methods to do this accurately. This information will aid them in making decisions about treatment. A new approach to rapidly diagnose lung complications in ICU would enable doctors to target the correct drugs to the appropriate patients and to withdraw drugs with confidence, with resultant improvement in patient outcomes and major cost efficiencies - thus revolutionising ICU care.Using advanced fibre optic technology and micro-electronics and new sensor arrays our ground-breaking solution is to create a novel fibre-based probe that can readily be passed into the gas exchanging areas of the lung and blood vessels of ICU patients. The probe will house a variety of special optical fibres, some of which allow clinicians to "view" inside the lung while others will be modified with sensors that can measure important parameters such as oxygen concentration and acidity in both blood and lung. In addition the fibre will deliver tiny amounts (microdoses) of 'smart reagents' that fluorescently detect specific bacteria and other agents that can damage the lung. When integrated together these signals will provide highly specific information about the degree or type of lung damage and the potential causative 'bug' if an infection is suspected. Because of the large amount of information generated and in order to make it easily interpreted by doctors, computing experts will convert these signals into easy-to-understand disease readouts for our clinicians. Work on the different elements needed to create this technology platform will be undertaken by groups of chemists, physicists, engineers, computer scientists and biologists working at Bath, Heriot Watt and Edinburgh universities. Crucially, this programme will bring these scientific disciplines together in a "hub" where they will work side-by-side, promoting integration of purpose and to ensure that advances are rapidly translated into the clinical setting. This interdisciplinary hub will also provide a fertile training base for new PhD students who will learn the cross-disciplinary skills that will equip them to meet the challenges of translating the current 'revolution' in physical sciences into benefit for UK healthcare. In summary this project will generate; 1) a new cohort of scientists trained in physical and biological science that have a full appreciation of clinical translational and commercialisation pathways and who are equipped to meet the challenges of converting advances in basic science into healthcare benefit and; 2) a cutting-edge bedside technology platform which will help doctors in the ICU make rapid and accurate diagnoses.