Therapeutic treatment and imaging of live cancer cells and bacteria

未来六年将开展的研究将首先包括暴露在各种治疗方法下的活癌细胞系的光学成像。这项工作将在很大程度上依赖于我们开发的光学显微镜成像技术，该技术可以成像难以检测到的未标记样本。无标记成像的一个主要优点是消除了潜在的生物异常，这些异常可能与荧光标记或向样本中注入外来颗粒有关。有待探索的疗法将包括药物、X射线辐射、紫外线可见光疗法及其组合。将特别强调不需要药物援助的光疗法。到目前为止，这一选择的研究还很少，但副作用较少，并减少了已经在服用处方药方案的患者发生不良化学相互作用的机会。当获得伦理许可后，治疗研究将扩展到使用针刺活检获得的活组织的调查。我们还将继续研究暴露在量化剂量的短波紫外线和可见光下的细菌的死亡率。这项工作对细菌和病毒的无药物灭菌具有重要意义，并提供了一个独特的机会来研究光诱导的化学键断裂对生殖单细胞物种生物学特性的影响。此外，我们会继续研究高功率可见光在清除表面细菌生物膜和菌斑方面的效果。*目前利用虹鲑鱼鱼种作为试验物种量化水毒性的研究将扩大到包括开发一种便携式实验室设施，该设施可以运送到偏远地点对流出物进行生物监测。抽样的地点将包括运营中的工业地点、市政水处理地点和可能仍在影响供水系统的废弃地点。还将设计和建造一个使用水蚤而不是鲑鱼的试验站。水蚤作为试验物种，在成本较低、系统规模较小以及减少伦理问题方面具有几个优势。

Research to be carried out in the next six years will consist firstly of the optical imaging of live cancer cell lines exposed to various therapeutic treatments. The work will rely heavily on an optical microscope imaging technique we have developed that can image difficult to detect untagged samples. A major advantage of untagged imaging is the elimination of potential biological abnormalities that can be associated with fluorescence tagging or with the injection of foreign particles into the specimen. Therapies to be explored will include drug, x-ray radiation, UV-visible light therapy, and combinations thereof. Particular emphasis will be placed on light therapy that does not require drug assistance. This option has been poorly investigated to date but offers fewer side effects and reduces the chance of adverse chemical interactions to patients already on a prescription drug regimen. When ethical clearance has been obtained, the therapy studies will be extended to the investigation of live tissues obtained using needle biopsy.     Research will also be continued in the investigation of the mortality of bacteria exposed to quantified doses of short wavelength UV and visible light. This work has implications for drug free sterilization against bacteria and viruses and offers a unique opportunity to examine the effects of light induced chemical bond breaking on the biological properties of reproductive single cell species. Also, we will continue to examine the efficacy of high power visible laser light in the removal of bacterial biofilms and plaques from surfaces.   Current research on the quantification of water toxicity using rainbow trout fingerlings as test species will be extended to include the development of a portable lab facility that can be transported to remote sites for the biological monitoring of effluent. Sites to be sampled will include operational industrial sites, municipal water treatment sites, and abandoned sites that may still be influencing the water system. A test station based on the use of daphnia instead of trout will also be designed and constructed. Daphnia as a test species offer several advantages in terms of lower costs, smaller system size, and reduced ethics issues.