CARBIOMED

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Acronimo CARBIOMED

Titolo del progetto Carbon dots for advanced bio-medical imaging and beyond

Programma di Finanziamento: Investimento 1.1 “Fondo per il Programma Nazionale di Ricerca e Progetti di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale (PRIN)"

Codice Progetto P2022M33MS

Settore ERC PE3

CUP H53D23009140001

Ruolo Uniba (Principal Investigator/R.U.L) R.U.L

Responsabile scientifico: Prof.ssa Anna SIGNORILE

Referente amministrativo: Dott.ssa Valeria PETRUZZELLI

Dipartimento: Department of Translational Biomedicine and Neuroscience

Finalità

CAR-BIO-MED focuses on the development of carbon dots and the exploration of their potential in bioimaging. Due to their excellent properties, the obtained fluorescent and electron-dense CDs represent double-contrast markers that will be studied not only for confocal microscopy, but also in the implementation of correlative light and electron microscopy to match details in multimodal imaging.

Abstract

This project addresses the improvement of bioimaging methodologies capable of early monitoring of changes and abnormalities in cell organelles from morphological changes, with the aim of providing stronger evidence for the early diagnosis and treatment of related diseases.

The team will address this problem through the development of a correlative imaging platform (light microscopy-electron microscopy) able to monitor morphological and structural anomalies of cell organelles, up to molecular resolution. In the initial phase, the focus will be on the synthesis and characterisation of carbon dots (CDs). Two different synthesis routes will be followed: one button-up (microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis) and the second top-down (laser-assisted synthesis).

CDs were chosen because, unlike semiconducting quantum dots and organic dyes, they have several fascinating advantages,

including tunable fluorescence, non-toxicity, resistance to long-term photobleaching and dispersibility in water, which facilitate their application in confocal microscopy. CDs with the appropriate characteristics will be selected to target mitochondria and allow imaging for the differentiation of cancerous/normal cells.

CDs also have the appropriate features to constitute a double marker. Properly functionalized CDs will thus constitute specific markers that can be used for the development of a variety of related imaging techniques ranging from confocal light microscopy to phase- and amplitude-contrast electron microscopy and electron tomography for ultrastructural resolution of morphological changes in cellular components.

The final goal will be the development of a correlative light-electron microscopy protocol to optimise the information from the two methodologies, thus enabling fundamental knowledge of intracellular transport processes down to molecular resolution.

Risultati attesi

The research activity of the project is aimed at achieving the following objectives:

Objective 1 - Synthesis of carbon dots modulated in size, morphology, and structure, which are important for the controlled modelling of nanoparticles for applications in biomedicine.

Objective 2 - Study of the peculiarities of the nanoparticles produced in relation to their interaction with analytes, culture media and the cell environment. analysis of the ability to mark cell organelles.

Objective 3 - Study of general strategies for nanoparticle-targeted sub-cellular imaging and in vitro application to normal and tumor cell systems to detect the sensitivity of mitochondria and verify the ability of CDs to discriminate between normal and tumor cells.

Objective 4 - Use of CDs as stable double-contrast probes in confocal microscopy-electron microscopy experiments.

Partenariato

  • Department of Mathematics and Physics of the University of Salento
  • Department of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, Physical Sciences and Earth Sciences of the University of Messina.
  • Department of Translational Biomedicine and Neuroscience, University of Bari “Aldo Moro

Evidenze pubbliche: https://reclutamento.ict.uniba.it/assegni-di-ricerca/concorsi/2024-pr-05.270

Contributo MUR 227.285 euro

Budget Uniba 108.046 euro

Data avvio delle attività 30/11/2023

Data fine delle attività 31/12/2025

Pagina web progetto: https://www.uniba.it/it/ricerca/dipartimenti/dibrain/ricerca/hes/prin-2022-pnrr/carbiomed