U-care: Deep ultraviolet light therapies

光的独特性质使其成为我们高科技社会的核心。例如，我们的信息丰富的世界只有光纤网络的非凡容量才能实现，在光纤网络中，薄玻璃被用来作为高速光学信号在全球范围内传输大量信息。光还影响着我们社会的各个领域，如基于激光的制造、太阳能、基于空间的遥感，甚至是天文学。光的特性开启了否则不可能实现的能力的一个领域是医学。例如，在眼科，激光通常被用来通过角膜重塑对眼睛进行手术。这涉及到两种不同的激光。在第一步中，激光产生非常短的红外光脉冲，在眼睛的前表面切割一个膜片，以提供通道。在第二步中，另一台激光产生更长的紫外线(UV)脉冲，塑造角膜的形状并纠正聚焦误差。在这个例子中，两个截然不同的激光系统说明了一个重要的点：光对人体组织的影响高度依赖于光和所涉及的组织的特定性质。为了塑造角膜，193 nm的激光波长位于电磁光谱的深紫外区，比我们熟悉的可见光范围(380-740 nm)要短得多。这是因为(与可见光不同)它被角膜非常有效地吸收，因此基本上所有的光能量都储存在表面。因此，每一个光脉冲只切除或“切除”一层非常薄的组织(几微米厚)，便于非常精确地塑造角膜并精确调整其聚焦特性。193 nm的光可以由ARF准分子气体激光器产生，这是一项已有40年历史的技术，产生的光束质量很差，亮度很低。这适用于角膜重塑，但不适用于其他一系列需要更高质量的深紫外光的重要疗法。不幸的是，产生如此短波长的替代方法并不是微不足道的，导致复杂而昂贵的激光系统不适合广泛的临床应用。U-CARE旨在通过利用激光物理中的尖端技术来解决这一差距。我们将开发新的深紫外光光源，这种光源将高度紧凑，坚固耐用，成本低。我们将开发将这种光精确地传递到组织的方法，并努力详细了解涉及的生物物理机制。我们的努力将集中在针对医学面临的一些最大挑战的新疗法上：细胞精确癌症手术，以及耐药“超级细菌”的出现。重要的是，U-CARE将让工程师和物理学家与临床医生和生物医学科学家密切合作，以验证我们开发的疗法有效和安全。通过整合这样做，到2050年，我们将推动我们的深紫外光疗法在医疗保健领域产生影响并在临床上广泛使用。

The unique properties of light have made it central to our high-tech society. For example, our information-rich world is only enabled by the remarkable capacity of the fibre-optic network, where thin strands of glass are used to carry massive amounts of information around the globe as high-speed optical signals. Light also impacts areas of our society as diverse as laser-based manufacturing, solar energy, space-based remote sensing and even astronomy.One area where the properties of light open up otherwise-impossible capabilities is medicine. In ophthalmology for example, lasers are routinely used to perform surgery on the eye through corneal reshaping. This involves two different lasers. In the first step, a laser producing very short pulses of infrared light cuts a flap in the front surface of the eye to provide access. In the second step, another laser producing longer pulses of ultraviolet (UV) light sculpts the shape of the cornea and correct focusing errors. The flap is then folded back into place so that the cornea can heal.The two very-different laser systems in that example illustrate an important point: the effects of light on human tissues are highly-dependent on the specific properties of both the light and the tissues involved. To sculpt the cornea, the laser wavelength of 193 nm is in the deep UV region of the electromagnetic spectrum, much shorter than the visible range (380 - 740 nm) we are familiar with. This is because (unlike visible light) it is very efficiently absorbed by the cornea, so that essentially all the energy of the light is deposited at the surface. Thus only a very thin layer of tissue (a few microns thick) is removed, or "resected", with each pulse of light, facilitating very-precise shaping of the cornea and accurate adjustment of its focusing properties.193 nm light can be generated by an ArF excimer gas laser, a >40 year-old technology producing a poor-quality low-brightness beam of light. This is suitable for corneal reshaping, but not for a range of other important therapies requiring higher-quality deep UV beams. Unfortunately, alternative ways to generate such short wavelengths are non-trivial, resulting in complex and expensive laser systems not suitable for widespread clinical uptake.U-care aims to address this gap by exploiting cutting-edge techniques in laser physics. We will develop new sources of deep UV light which will be highly compact, robust and low cost. We will develop ways to deliver this light precisely to tissues, and work to understand in detail the biophysical mechanisms involved. Our efforts will focus on new therapies that target some of the biggest challenges facing medicine: cellular-precision cancer surgery, and the emergence of drug-resistant "super-bugs". Importantly, U-care will involve engineers and physical scientists working in close collaboration with clinicians and biomedical scientists to verify that the therapies we develop are effective and safe. By doing so in an integrated manner, we will drive our deep-UV light therapies towards healthcare impact and widespread use in the clinic by 2050.