Simultaneous Elemental and Molecular Imaging of Biological Targets – A New Paradigm for the Study of Disease and its Treatment

Objective

"This project proposes the development of a technology capable of delivering, high speed, simultaneous elemental and molecular maps of biological targets. Specifically these targets will include plaques associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), tumours treated with Pt-based chemotherapy drugs, and cell populations derived from the FP7 project, the ONE Study. The dual-mode imaging system will enable the analysis of metallo-proteins and their binding sites, or where there is no native metal tag or its abundance is too small to detect, anti-body or specific reactive chemistry metal or nano-particle tags will be added to the target molecules. For the ONE Study, one of the key project aims is to develop cell labelling strategies that will enable therapeutically administered cells to be tracked at low abundance in the host cell populations without toxic impact on either the therapeutic cells or host organism.

The technology will be based on employing a common pulsed laser platform for laser ablation, desorption, or matrix assisted sampling of the target material simultaneously coupled with inductively-coupled plasma elemental mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and ion trap organic mass spectrometry. In the case of the molecular mass spectrometry, electro-spray or matrix assisted charging will be used. The sampling will employ a technology developed in the host laboratory that enables targets to be sampled at atmospheric pressure whilst excluding atmosphere from the sampling point. The technology will be optimised for high speed and high efficiency to enable rapid mapping of targets at very high sensitivity. This will require development of a new high efficiency torch design for ICP-MS and the novel use of micro-jet pumps to deliver samples to the mass spectrometers.

The project will also take advantage of the Fellow’s expertise in synchrotron X-ray techniques to obtain non-destructive and comparative analyses of the specimen materials."

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

• medical and health sciences clinical medicine ophthalmology
• engineering and technology nanotechnology nano-materials
• natural sciences physical sciences optics laser physics pulsed lasers
• natural sciences chemical sciences analytical chemistry mass spectrometry

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

• FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

• FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IIF - Marie Curie Action: "International Incoming Fellowships"

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IIF
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MC-IIF - International Incoming Fellowships (IIF)

Coordinator