Infralucifern/luciferase gold nanorod conjugates for NIR bi-modal imaging

Photoacoustic imaging is a non-invasive imaging technique, combining the spatial resolution and deep penetration of ultrasound imaging with the high contrast and specificity of optical imaging. It works by irradiating a contrasting agent with pulsed laser light which generates an ultrasound to create three dimensional images. One problem the technique has is verifying the cellular location of the contrast agent. The project aims to develop a series of gold nano particles linked to infraluciferin/luciferase for assessing particle cell internalisation and delivery. Particle location will be assessed by high resolution photoacoustic imaging. Whereas, infraluciferin will verify cell internalisation by activating bioluminescence.
The student will synthesise infraluciferin and amino-infraluciferin derivatives linked to an active linker for coupling to an active linker on a gold surface. The linker can be attached to either end of infraluciferin and will be susceptible to degradation through a range of enzyme cleavage mechanisms. The infraluciferin-linker conjugate and luciferases will be appended to suitably functionalised Au NPs using a range of literature techniques already proven for the bioconjugation of NPs. The infraluciferin-Au NPs and luciferase-Au NPs will then be tested for cleavage in vitro. Refinements of the linker may be required to ultimately demonstrate the method in vivo, cleavage and photoacoustic imaging. The improvement in the pinpointing of contrasting agents through using NIR bioluminescence will lead to improved imaging techniques for use by imaging scientists everywhere to study disease more effectively.
The project falls within the EPSRC research themes: Physical Sciences and Healthcare Technologies. The EPSRC research area of Synthetic Organic Chemistry will enable the project to deliver practical applications in the other research areas of Chemical Biology and Biological Chemistry, and Medical Imaging.