CONTRAST facility: clinical coherent Raman scattering facility

英国拥有丰富而充满活力的拉曼光谱社区，处于发展的最前沿，表明该技术是下一代医疗保健技术的关键。拉曼光谱是一种成熟的分析技术，它根据样品中化学键的振动频率来获取化学成分的信息。由于其独特的“光学指纹”能力，拉曼光谱有潜力在医疗保健中发挥重要作用，包括：组织病理学、细胞学、活检靶向、手术靶点、治疗监测和药物研究。然而，对于许多医疗保健应用，与依赖于标签的光学技术相比，拉曼散射的缺点是对实时成像太弱。相干拉曼散射（CRS）是一种替代方法，它使用极短的激光脉冲（持续时间约为十亿分之一秒的千分之一）来将微弱的分子振动信号增强到与组织实时成像兼容的水平；这种能力是下一代诊断技术和靶向治疗发展的关键。我们建议在埃克塞特建立一个CRS用户设施，这将允许英国领先的研究人员开发基于这种新兴技术的新型医疗保健技术。

The UK has a rich and vibrant Raman spectroscopy community, which is at the forefront of developments showing that the technique holds the key to the next generation of enabling healthcare technologies. Raman spectroscopy is an established analytical technique that derives information regarding chemical composition based on the vibrational frequency of the chemical bonds within a sample. Due to its unique 'optical fingerprinting' capability, Raman spectroscopy has the potential to play a significant role in healthcare including: histopathology, cytology, biopsy targeting, surgical targets, treatment monitoring and drug studies. However, for many healthcare applications Raman scattering when compared with optical techniques that rely on labelling, has the drawback of being too weak for real-time imaging. Coherent Raman scattering (CRS), is an alternative approach that uses extremely short (approximately one thousandth of one billionth of a second in duration) pulses of lasers to exploit to boost the weak molecular vibrational signals to a level that is compatible with real-time imaging of tissues; a capability that holds the key to the next generation of diagnostic technologies and the development of targeted therapies. We propose to establish a CRS user facility at Exeter that will allow leading UK researchers to develop novel Healthcare Technologies based on this emerging technology.