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Project under NRRI 2020-2027
"National Center of Biomedical Photonics-NCBP"

    

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PROJECT # KP06-India-8 / 07.08.2019 Project
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# KP06-India-8 / 07.08.2019
„Polarization-sensitive fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy for cancer detection“

Funded by NSF-MES-Bulgaria

   

Partners:
Institute of Electronics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Department of Biophysics, School of Life Sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India
   
   
Institute of Electronics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Institute of Electronics, BAS
SLS-Manipal
Department of Biophysics, School of Life Sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India
   
   
    Bulgarian scientific team
Ekaterina Borisova, Assoc. prof., PhD, IE-BAS – team coordinator
Latchezar Avramov, Prof., D. Sci., PhD, IE-BAS
Alexander Gisbrecht, Assoc. prof., PhD, IE-BAS
Tsanislava Genova, PhD student, IE-BAS
Deyan Ivanov, PhD student, IE-BAS
Stoyan Ilyov, BS student in “Medical physics”, SU, technician – IE-BAS
   
    Indian scientific team
Dr. Nirmal Mazumder, Assistant Professor, Ph.D. – team coordinator
Shama Parsada Kabekkodu, Associate Professor, PhD
Sindhoora K M, Ph.D. Scholar, MSc

PROJECT SUMMARY

Modern methods for the study of collagen and elastin fibers in biological tissues require significant sample processing and are limited to the methods of histology and immunohistochemistry. Stokes - polarimetry on the other hand, based on polarization multimodal imaging and integrated with second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy is one of the newest and most studied areas of biophotonics worldwide, due to the prospects of obtaining information on dynamic cellular and tissue changes in vivo, the technique allowing the measurement of the four Stokes vectors simultaneously, using a 4-detector scheme. Simultaneous measurement is an important factor in characterizing the overall state of polarization and thus improving the sensitivity and minimizing instrumental errors due to background noise. The visualization of fibrous tissue structures is difficult when applying methods for obtaining conventional polarization images, but is significantly similar when applying the method for obtaining vector Stokes images. However, the high cost and complexity of the equipment used for this type of measurement limits its applications.

The high sensitivity of fluorescence spectroscopy allows it to be used as a tool for early diagnosis of pathological changes in tissues at the biochemical level before the onset of obvious morphological changes. The combination with polarization techniques for autofluorescence spectroscopy of skin neoplasms will contribute to obtaining information about the anisotropic properties of skin tissues and their changes during tumor growth. Polarization will improve the optical analysis of morphological changes to assess the anisotropic changes of structural proteins in the extracellular matrix during the development of neoplasia, which can be used not only to assess malignancies but also to detect degenerative changes in connective tissues, autoimmune diseases such as lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis and others.

The combination of previous research, theoretical, experimental and clinical experience of the two research groups, the accumulation of new experimental data and the development of spectral and imaging algorithms in the framework of joint cooperation will form the basis of this project, helping to develop and implement combined optical techniques for detection and differentiation of skin neoplasms and other systemic skin diseases, for optimization and upgrading with polarization-sensitive channels, etc. the spectral techniques we use in our research practice and to enrich the instrumental possibilities for polarization-sensitive spectral diagnostics of tissue pathologies in order to increase the diagnostic accuracy for clinical applications and to develop a methodology for polarization-sensitive fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy for cancer detection.


PROJECT OBJECTIVES

The main aim of this project is to determine the polarization emission properties of healthy and diseased tissues using modern optical methods. The Bulgarian and Indian groups aim to evaluate the potential of polarization-sensitive autofluorescence spectroscopy and Stokes-Mueller microscopy of biological tissues and thus to develop a new objective tool for biomedical applications. In this context, we propose to create a common research platform to analyze and evaluate the polarization properties of the emitted light under fluorescent excitation based on our expertise.

The main objectives of the project proposal are the following:

  1. Visual assessment and quantification of the polarization characteristics of the tissue (collagen fibers, elastin), using autofluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy;
  2. Determination of the correlations of the polarization properties of healthy tissues and their changes during tumor growth, autofluorescence spectroscopy with cross-polarization and Stokes-vector autofluorescence microscopy;
  3. Segmentation of images, reconstruction and automation of the differentiation of healthy and tumor skin tissues;
  4. Creation and development of fruitful scientific cooperation, as the results of the research will be described in joint publications in peer-reviewed journals and presented at prestigious international conferences; supporting the career development of young scientists and PhD students in the project teams of both partners.
   
   
   

   

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