Objective
"I propose to develop a new generation of molecular photoacoustic imaging technologies and methods capable of detecting single deep tissue cells in preclinical studies of tissue regeneration. In order to achieve this goal, an interdisciplinary research programme involving physicists, engineers and life scientists is required to address the following objectives: 1) the development of novel photoacoustic imaging technology that provides high sensitivity and acquisition speed, 2) the development of the theoretical framework and experimental methods for quantitative imaging, 3) the development of novel genetically expressed reporters, and 4) the preclinical application in small animal models of tissue regeneration. This will result in a preclinical imaging modality has the potential to combine single cell sensitivity and microscale spatial resolution in deep (centimetre range) tissue regions with molecular, physiological, and anatomical imaging capabilities. The instrumentation and methodologies developed in this project will be applied to noninvasive, longitudinal, and quantitative studies of stem cell driven tissue regeneration, such as angiogenesis in bone fractures and muscle trauma. It will allow the detection and tracking of single stem cells and the probing of stem cell function. This will provide unprecedented opportunities for correlating cellular localization, migration, and function and with anatomical changes - knowledge that can be exploited to develop novel drugs and cell-based clinical therapies. Crucially, the technologies and methodologies developed in this project will be directly applicable to a wide range of other fields of the life sciences, such as cancer research and neurology."
Fields of science
Call for proposal
ERC-2011-StG_20101109
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Funding Scheme
ERC-SG - ERC Starting GrantHost institution
10623 Berlin
Germany
Beneficiaries (2)
10623 Berlin
10117 Berlin