Researcher aims to make the early detection of melanoma faster, cheaper without biopsy necessary -
Melanoma is a form of skin cancer that becomes dangerous when it spreads, but is treatable in its early stages. Doctors diagnose melanoma by cutting a piece of a suspicious skin lesion - a procedure known as a biopsy -. And test for malignant cells
There are an imperfect invasive method a researcher from the University of Colorado State Jesse Wilson wants to improve. His goal is to make early detection of melanoma faster, cheaper and less invasive than biopsy.
An associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering school, Wilson's expertise is pushing the boundaries of biomedical optics. He received one year, $ 30,000 grant from the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute of developing a new microscope that can distinguish between benign and malignant pigmented skin lesions without the need for a biopsy.
If his works ideas, it could lead to a low cost, in vivo imaging of melanin, the skin pigment that is made by cells called melanocytes, which can become cancerous and drive melanoma.
is the grant by the "CO- CCTSI the pilot program" which provides seed funding for early-career researchers who engage in new interdisciplinary ideas. Wilson, who made his baccalaureate Master and doctorate work at CSU, is back on campus as a member of the faculty to continue to apply biomedical optical tip to the early detection of cancer.
the CO-Pilot finance development of an experimental Wilson microscope which uses a technology called pump-probe, which can provide a contrast between normal tissue and melanoma without stains or dyes.
pump-probe is a type of microscope multiphoton, a technique well established used for deep imaging of living tissue. standard multiphoton microscopy, an extremely short laser pulse is used to excite fluorescent molecules in the sample, which can then be detected when they light up.
In the pump-probe, excited molecules are detected not by fluorescence but through their interaction with a second laser pulse. This allows the pump-probe to distinguish molecules based on their absorption properties, which offer a strong contrast between different types of melanin.
Pump-probe microscopes can detect melanoma were developed in the laboratory of Warren Warren at Duke University, where Wilson completed his postdoctoral training. However, these microscopes require a short pulse laser source that costs more than $ 300,000 -. A major obstacle to the commercialization of the technology for widespread use
This is the address Wilson problem with the CO-Pilot grant. He designed a pump-probe microscope that can distinguish between benign and malignant melanoma in vivo, but built around a simple laser source that is already widely used in telecommunications applications to encrypt voice communications. This laser will cost about $ 5000, and make the pump-probe technology more realistic for melanoma applications.
Wilson will work with Ali Pezeshki, associate professor of ECE and mathematics, the signal processing that will be the image of the construction center with the new microscope. It also plans to work with Dan Gustafson, director of research at the Cancer Center Flint animal.
The laboratory Wilson also pursues other pump-probe applications, including imaging cytochromes, molecules involved in metabolic activities that can not be imaged with conventional techniques.
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