Southampton’s Professor of Molecular BioPhotonics and Imaging, Sumeet Mahajan, is leading investigations using lasers and light-based techniques deployed on Mars to develop new types of diagnostics and treatments for diseases.
Looking for molecules in a non-invasive way
One of the key techniques used by Sumeet and his team is Raman spectroscopy, the same technology that NASA’s rover Perseverance uses to look for signs of life on Mars.
While NASA is looking for molecules that might have represented life, the team’s research is looking for molecules in living patients to diagnose diseases.
The research explores how Raman spectroscopy and similar label-free light-based techniques can be developed to enable better, earlier and more accurate diagnoses of osteoarthritis, anti-microbial resistance and dementia. It aims to do this from outside the body using harmless light, without X-ray radiation or chemical labels.
Developing technologies for future impact
Laser-based imaging technologies lie at the heart of a new Prosperity Partnership between Southampton, global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and technology company M Squared Life.
The five-year partnership, called Transformative Imaging for Quantitative Biology (TIQBio), aims to revolutionise the means by which potentially transformative new drugs are tested.
Led by Southampton researchers, the team is developing non-invasive laser-based imaging technologies. These are based on Rayleigh scattering and multiphoton excitation, to improve pre-clinical drugs testing.
The laser-based techniques are used on models that are miniature, simplified versions of human organs. They provide live, high-resolution 3D images on a large scale to determine the impact of new drug candidates and their effectiveness in treating various conditions.
Not only will the techniques used lead to accelerated drug discovery, but they will also avoid expensive human trials. They will also reduce the need for testing on mice and other mammals that is standard practice in current drug development processes and pipelines.
Sumeet and Richard Oreffo, Professor of Musculoskeletal Science at Southampton, are also part of InLightenUs: a multimillion-pound interdisciplinary programme funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
InLightenUs aims to significantly transform diagnostics. Currently, disease diagnosis takes a long time as a biopsy has to be taken and sent for analysis, whereas Raman spectroscopy and other InLightenUs technologies could enable instant diagnosis.
Our ultimate vision for 2050 and beyond is a walk-through arch, similar to an airport scanner. This could instantly scan your body up to a depth of 10cm and provide an immediate diagnosis for a whole range of diseases. Hand scanners could be achieved sooner.
We expect that within five years a combination of the techniques developed by InLightenUs will be able to scan several millimetres beneath the skin to help diagnose diseases.
Professor Sumeet Mahajan
