Events
O SEMINARIO DO DR. ANTONIO BENAYAS FOI FINALMENTE CANCELADO
O 10 de novembro de 2023, O Dr. Antonio Benayas, da Universidade Autónoma de Madrid, ofrecerá o seminario "Choosing a Different Messenger: How Lifetime (Nano)Thermometry Addresses the “Tissue Issue” When Remotely Monitoring Physiological Processes".
Será ás 11:00 horas na Sala de Seminarios da Torre CACTI.
ABSTRACT:
Choosing a Different Messenger: How Lifetime (Nano)Thermometry Addresses the “Tissue Issue” When Remotely Monitoring Physiological Processes
Antonio Benayas1,2,3
(1) Nanomaterials for Bioimaging Group (NanoBIG) Dept de Física de Materiales Universidad Autónoma de
Madrid; Madrid 28049, Spain
(2) Nanomaterials for Bioimaging Group (NanoBIG) Instituto Ramón y Cajal de Investigación Sanitaria
Ctra. de Colmenar Viejo Km 9,100; Madrid 28034, Spain
(3) Instituto Nicolás Cabrera - Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; Madrid 28049, Spain
* antonio.benayas@uam.es
Temperature of tissues and organs is one of the first parameters affected by physiological and pathological
processes, such as metabolic activity, acute trauma, or infection-induced inflammation. Luminescence
nanothermometry aims to provide remote and quasi-contacless thermal reading within diverse physical
systems. This modality is based on the use of luminescent nanoprobes showing temperature-dependent
changes in their spectroscopic properties (i.e. luminescent nanothermometers). In recent years, this
technique has led to exciting biomedical achievements: thermal monitoring of cell and brain activity,
diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases and real-time thermal imaging of tumors during in vivo therapies.
However, in vivo luminescence nanothermometry is not a sensing technique mature enough to be translated
into the clinics, yet. It lacks reliability when performing measurements in the presence of biological tissues,
since erroneous thermal readouts are obtained already at the subcutaneous level. This interference stems
from a strong tissue-photon interaction, which hinders the application of luminescence nanothermometry
at greater depths. Hence, such bottleneck constituted by the interference of biological tissues should be
addressed to fully implement luminescence nanothermometry into nanomedicine.
Now we tackle this hurdle, bringing luminescence nanothermometry closer to its reliable implementation
in vivo. First, we developed a synthesis route yielding bright Ag2S nanothermometers with long
fluorescence lifetimes, later applying a methodology based on the analysis of lifetime as a thermometric
parameter. The differentiators of the showcased lifetime-based thermometric approach are reliability, realtime
measurement, and high accuracy despite the presence of tissue interference. That novel thermal
indicator (luminescence lifetime) allowed us to measure the temperature of an internal organ (liver)
undergoing an inflammation process in an animal model. Such demonstration of thermal monitoring via
fluorescence lifetime-based thermometry convincingly supports the use of this sensing technique, a reliable
diagnostic tool of intracorporeal temperature as a physiological indicator in preclinical research.
