Press release -
A flash of light to identify tumors: the results of the VIBRA project of the Politecnico di Milano
Funded by ERC and just completed, the project uncovers the cellular mechanisms underlying various diseases thanks to a new optical microscopy technique
The VIBRA project, "Very fast Imaging by Broadband coherent Raman", has just ended at the Politecnico di Milano. Funded by the prestigious European Research Council of the European Community and lasted 5 years (2015-2020), it led to the development of a new revolutionary optical microscope in the biological and biomedical fields. "Today, the identification of tumors and other diseases is largely based on the subjective judgment of a pathologist who visually inspects the tissue under a microscope. Our optical microscope, based on coherent Raman spectroscopy, is able to quickly visualize the chemical content of a biological sample to identify diseased cells in human biopsy - an accurate, reliable and non-invasive tool that can guide the surgeon's work in real time”, explains Dario Polli, Professor of Physics at the Politecnico di Milano and scientific director of the project.
By exploiting sophisticated laser techniques that generate ultra-short light pulses (lasting millionths of millionths of a second, among the shortest events ever made by man), it was possible to record the fingerprint of the molecules that make up matter. Each molecule, in fact, is recognizable by the "sound" it emits when it vibrates. Hence the name of the project. The laser pulses have the double function of hitting molecules like a hammer to make them vibrate and then recording their vibration, at frequencies billions of times higher than the sounds we can perceive with our ears. All this in a non-invasive way, that is, without adding any contrast agent or destroying or disturbing the sample. It was therefore possible to map the concentration of the various constituents of matter and create detailed three-dimensional maps of cells and tissues. "The results obtained will have a great impact in biology and medicine. In the future, they will allow researchers to visualize the properties of organic samples with great bio-chemical specificity. The aim will be to study the cellular mechanisms underlying various pathologies and to automatically identify tumors in biopsies, with a degree of accuracy and reproducibility better than we can do today”, comments Professor Dario Polli.
Link to the VIBRA project website: www.vibra.polimi.it
Topics
Categories
Politecnico di Milano is a scientific-technological university which trains engineers, architects and industrial designers.
The University has always focused on the quality and innovation of its teaching and research, developing a fruitful relationship with business and productive world by means of experimental research and technological transfer.
Research has always been linked to didactics and it is a priority commitment which has allowed Politecnico Milano to achieve high quality results at an international level as to join the university to the business world. Research constitutes a parallel path to that formed by cooperation and alliances with the industrial system.
Knowing the world in which you are going to work is a vital requirement for training students. By referring back to the needs of the industrial world and public administration, research is facilitated in following new paths and dealing with the need for constant and rapid innovation. The alliance with the industrial world, in many cases favored by Fondazione Politecnico and by consortiums to which Politecnico belong, allows the university to follow the vocation of the territories in which it operates and to be a stimulus for their development.
The challenge which is being met today projects this tradition which is strongly rooted in the territory beyond the borders of the country, in a relationship which is developing first of all at the European level with the objective of contributing to the creation of a single professional training market. Politecnico takes part in several research, sites and training projects collaborating with the most qualified European universities. Politecnico's contribution is increasingly being extended to other countries: from North America to Southeast Asia to Eastern Europe. Today the drive to internationalization sees Politecnico Milano taking part into the European and world network of leading technical universities and it offers several courses beside many which are entirely taught in English.
