Bioimaging

For BioFrontiers and Syncroness collaboration, imaging is everything

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Mar 2018 06:00:00 +0000

For BioFrontiers and Syncroness collaboration, imaging is everything Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/19/2018 - 00:00

Chris Yankee , Lindsay Diamond

L-R: Josh Peifer, Joanne Vozoff, Joe Dragavon

When Syncroness, a Westminster-based technical product development and engineering firm, needed a highly technical solution to satisfy a client need, it turned to CU �鶹ӰԺ and the BioFrontiers Institute for assistance.

The decision paid off, providing access to the BioFrontiers Advanced Light Microscopy Core facility, allowing Syncroness to deliver a solution to its customer and demonstrating how academic research communities can facilitate innovative solutions to commercial challenges.

“This is the kind of mutually-beneficial relationship with high-tech business partners we would like to build on,” said Mike Traxler, industry program manager for CU �鶹ӰԺ’s Office of Industry Collaboration, which serves as a kind of matchmaker between non-university partners and CU �鶹ӰԺ faculty and facilities. “We have an incredible range of specialized equipment, facilities and research expertise across campus, and much of it can be leveraged by industry to gain a competitive edge. That has certainly been the case with Syncroness. This is also a scenario that allows our faculty and students to collaborate with a company to design world-class products.”

Recently, a Syncroness client commissioned the company to design a diagnostic tool to help prevent fouling in industrial equipment. The tool would need to measure the size and density of microscopic particles in a substrate, and Syncroness needed a baseline to measure performance of the system. The project demanded advanced imaging acquisition and analysis – not the kind of thing you just pick up at the local office supply store.

It is not feasible for Syncroness to invest in specialized equipment for each individual project, let alone the time to cultivate deep expertise, given the rapid commercial schedules it executes. To maintain a sustainable business model, Syncroness seeks cutting-edge partnerships and collaborations that “extend expertise beyond what we have at Syncroness,” said Todd Mosher, Syncroness’ VP of Engineering. “We appreciate CU �鶹ӰԺ as a partner because we can leverage the university’s extensive investments in research equipment and expert staff.”

A match made in ... �鶹ӰԺ

Syncroness determined that the best solution would be to partner with experts in imaging analysis. Joanne Vozoff, PhD, the systems engineer on the project, reached out to a connection at CU �鶹ӰԺ who helped her identify the Advanced Light Microscopy Core facility at BioFrontiers Institute as a potential partner.

Syncroness staff and representatives from Syncroness’ client visited BioFrontiers and worked with facility director Joe Dragavon on image acquisition. Next, Image Analysis Specialist Jian Wei Tay constructed unique algorithms for the image analysis to create known references to test the system’s performance. Syncroness used these known references to update the particle detection algorithms used by the equipment in the field.

The BioFrontiers Advanced Light Microscopy Core facility primarily serves academic collaborations across CU �鶹ӰԺ and the Front Range, although five to 10 percent of the facility’s revenue comes from industry and third-party partners. While its academic customers are the top priority, providing access to industrial partners expands collaborative opportunities for the university and adds a modest but important revenue stream.

Mosher anticipates that there will be more collaboration between Syncroness and the BioFrontiers Advanced Light Microscopy Core facility, but the opportunities don’t end there. In addition to its work with the microscopy facility, Syncroness frequently partners with engineering faculty at CU �鶹ӰԺ on projects in both research and product design, and has hired numerous graduates of the College of Engineering and Applied Science and the Leeds School of Business. “As a CU alumni myself, I think it is important for CU Buffs to hire Buffs to build their businesses,” Mosher said.

Faculty, students and interested potential partners can visit the Office of Industry Collaboration website to learn more about university-industry opportunities.

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Bacteria have feelings, too

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 21:31:19 +0000

Bacteria have feelings, too Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/15/2017 - 15:31

Ula Chrobak

For humans, our sense of touch is relayed to the brain via small electrical pulses. Now, CU �鶹ӰԺ scientists have found that individual bacteria, too, can feel their external environment in a similar way.

In a new study, CU �鶹ӰԺ researchers have demonstrated that E. coli bacteria cells get excited when poked, sending out voltage induced calcium ion signals—the same way a vertebrate’s sensory nervous system works. The results are believed to be the first documented observation of electrical excitability in individual bacteria cells.

The findings, which could advance fundamental bacteria research and may eventually aid drug development for infectious diseases, were published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“People typically think that [bacteria] are these little things, that all they are doing is trying to divide and create more energy,” said Giancarlo Bruni, a doctoral candidate in CU �鶹ӰԺ’s Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and the lead author of the new research. “[But] we’re not all that different.”

Scientists have long known that bacteria respond to certain chemical cues. Feed them sugar, and their populations explode. Douse them in antibiotics and their cell walls rip apart. More recently, though, scientists have noticed that physical signals, too, seem to activate these microbes. For example, Salmonella become more efficient at infecting human cells when placed on a stiff surface as opposed to a soft one.

“What we think could be happening is that they’re using these electrical signals to modify their lifestyle,” said Joel Kralj, the senior author of the study and an assistant professor in MCDB and the BioFrontiers Institute.

To study how bacteria feel their surroundings, the team inserted special genes into E. coli bacteria that glow when calcium ions or electricity pulse through them. The cells were placed in a sticky substrate under a microscope. Left alone, the cells remained dim. But when the scientists pushed a pad against them, the bacteria lit up. The sparks of light indicated that proteins, ions and electricity were moving around in the bacteria.

The results indicate that bacteria and other creatures share a common tool for sensing their environment—an electrical pathway with the same functionality as human sensory neurons. From an evolutionary perspective, this signaling trait could be billions of years old and used by some of the oldest organisms on Earth.

The study also sheds new light on bacterial activity with regard to infection. For example, when exposed to antibiotics, a few bacteria cells with unique electric signals usually survive. These survivors then go on to reproduce and share their drug-resistant capabilities with other bacteria, eventually rendering the antibiotic useless.

The CU �鶹ӰԺ researchers now plan to study how bacteria’s electric pulses are used to sense when to infect human cells. In the future, they hope to test for small, masking molecules that can dull these signals when introduced. Such molecules could eventually translate into drugs that help treat bacterial infections and overcome antibiotic resistance.

“If we can block bacterial electrical activity, they may be less likely to infect, because now they don't know that they have landed on your soft delicious gut cell,” said Kralj. “We could cut their hands off so they can no longer feel.”

Additional co-authors of the new study include Andrew Weekley and Benjamin Dodd of MCDB and BioFrontiers. The National Institutes of Health and the Searle Scholars Program provided funding for the research.

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Kralj NIH Innovation Award

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Oct 2016 06:00:00 +0000

Kralj NIH Innovation Award Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 10/04/2016 - 00:00

BioFrontiers

Innovator Award winner brings to light the electrical changes in cells

Electric voltage powers life: Our brains use electrical transients to process every thought and every heartbeat arises from voltage changes in heart cells. Traditional measurements of voltage inside cells involve scientists making tiny wires and impaling cells, exactly the same way you could measure voltage flowing through a copper wire. However, due to the small size and fragile nature of cells, it has been technically impossible to measure voltage in neurons in a high throughput manner.

Assistant Professor in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Joel Kralj, a BioFrontiers Institute faculty member, became interested in measuring cellular voltage as a postdoctoral researcher and developed a protein based sensor that converts changes in voltage to changes in fluorescence, finally bringing to light the electrical changes in cells.

“The fact that we can convert changes in voltage to something visible allows us to make movies showing these biological processes,” says Kralj, “And because it’s really easy to take a movie, we now have a way of collecting vast amounts of voltage data without a physical connection to the cell, which is faster and easier.”

Kralj recently won a New Innovator Award from the National Institutes of Health for his work on voltage in neurons. According to the NIH, the New Innovator Award supports “unusually innovative research” from young investigators like Kralj. The NIH does not award these grants easily, giving out only about 50 per year. The program is meant to support creative researchers doing high risk, high-impact science—a description that Kralj easily matches

As part of this award, Kralj will receive $1.5 million to support his research, and the Innovator Awards allow more flexibility in spending than most grants. He plans to spend the grant money to develop automated microscopy hardware that will be capable of measuring neuronal voltage from hundreds to thousands of conditions. Kralj is joining Andrew Goodwin, assistant professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, as CU �鶹ӰԺ’s only Innovator awardees.

In order to study neurons Kralj plans to focus on the approximately 20 thousand proteins that transmit genetic information to find out how each protein affects voltage in neurons. This intensive process will involve removing a single protein in each measurement to see how its removal impacts the cell. Kralj will then create a database that includes the effects each of the 20 thousand proteins on the electrical changes in neurons—changes that lead to neurological diseases like epilepsy and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS.

“I am hoping that our sensors, and the database we’re creating, will help us identify the full complement of proteins essential for normal function, and also how their absence might give rise to disease. The New Innovator Award is going to give me the flexibility to follow a lead in this research,” says Kralj.

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Cracking the code on bacterial voltage

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 06:00:00 +0000

Cracking the code on bacterial voltage Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/13/2015 - 00:00

BioFrontiers

Searle Scholars Award winner is cracking the code on bacterial voltage

Electric voltage powers life – Our brains use electrical transients to process every thought; every heartbeat arises from voltage changes in heart cells. Despite its importance, voltage changes in bacteria were never really studied because the cells were just too small to measure. In fact, biologists historically assumed that these voltage changes were only present in plants and animals. BioFrontiers Institute faculty member, Joel Kralj, an Assistant Professor in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, developed a method to encode a fluorescent protein into bacterial cells that allow it to become visible, revealing how bacteria use electricity to stay alive.

“Voltage really is everywhere, and life has harnessed it for billions of years in order to evolve. That’s what is amazing,” says Kralj. “Finding these electrical transients in bacteria gives us an entirely new perspective on their evolution.”

Kralj recently became a Searle Scholar for his work on voltage in bacteria. The Searle Scholars Program supports the research of scientists who recently started their appointments at the assistant professor level, and who are in their first tenure-track position at one of 153 participating academic or research institutions. Kralj was one of 15 researchers who were named Searle Scholars this year. As part of this award, he will receive $100,000 per year for three years to support his research.

The evolutionary story of bacteria is interesting enough but Kralj is looking at how bacteria use voltage changes to access hosts or signal other bacteria to colonize a host. The equipment he uses is highly specialized with fluorescent monitors developed specifically for use in bacteria, and a laser microscope to measure the tiny changes in voltage. Kralj’s lab is relatively new. He joined BioFrontiers last year and is in the process of staffing for his research. He is looking forward to using the funds from the Searle Scholars program to build more equipment to do bacterial research, including automatic scanning microscopes.

Although his research subjects are small, Kralj’s research has the potential to make a big impact. He is unlocking the secrets around how bacteria are using voltage to survive antibiotic exposure. He’s hoping to discover whether many of the antibiotic resistant “superbugs” are staying alive because they are modulating their voltage to attack hosts, colonize and evade the drugs developed to kill them. If Kralj finds this to be the case, he hopes to understand how voltage could be inhibited in bacterial cells so that antibiotic drugs could be more effective.

“The Searle Scholar grants are going to give me the flexibility to follow a lead in this research,” says Kralj. “Researchers looked for twenty years to find a way to measure this voltage, and now that we can measure it, there is so much to study.”

The University of Colorado in �鶹ӰԺ currently has six other Searle Scholars, including Natalie Ahn, Min Han, Arthur Pardi, Roy Parker, Gia Voeltz and Ding Xue.

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CU-�鶹ӰԺ lab awarded $14.6 million DARPA contract

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 07:00:00 +0000

CU-�鶹ӰԺ lab awarded $14.6 million DARPA contract Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 02/03/2014 - 00:00

BioFrontiers

The University of Colorado was recently awarded a cooperative agreement worth up to $14.6 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a new technological system to rapidly determine how drugs and biological or chemical agents affect human cells.

The project, called the Subcellular Pan-Omics for the Advanced Rapid Threat Assessment (SPARTA) will be conducted by an interdisciplinary CU-�鶹ӰԺ team led by Research Assistant Professor William Old of the chemistry and biochemistry department.

DARPA, an arm of the U.S. Department of Defense, wants to better understand the biochemical mechanisms at work during cellular exposures to biological or chemical agents to help prevent mortality during potential conflicts. The research also is expected to lead to new broad-scale techniques to analyze cellular processes to wide societal benefit.

"We believe the technology developed under this program will go far beyond military and commercial applications," said SPARTA Program Manager Emina Begovic. "We envision powerful applications of these new tools in a biomedical setting. Understanding how cells are affected by bacterial infection, for example, could lead to the development of new treatments."

"Traditionally it takes decades to figure out how drugs affect an organism's biology," says Old. "Our goal is to rapidly speed up the process, identifying how these compounds work, in weeks. This could lower the barriers to developing effective drugs that have minimal side effects."

Old's team will comprehensively measure all major classes of biomolecules that respond to any cellular treatment or biological signal within milliseconds to days. This will help to determine the key molecular events that mediate cellular responses. The team is developing new microfluidic devices to control and manipulate individual cell components to obtain subcellular resolution that will provide new insights into the functions of individual organelles and proteins within cells.

One example that illustrates the complexities of the project is the nerve gas, sarin, which causes a malfunction in a key cellular enzyme used to control muscles, resulting in their overstimulation.

"We know this drug causes negative effects in multiple signaling pathways," said Tristan McClure-Begley, a pharmacologist and analytical chemist working on the SPARTA team. "But what we lack a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms that lead to long-term systemic damage in individuals the survive exposure."

The Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building already houses seven mass spectrometers in the Proteomics and Mass Spectrometry Core Facility directed by Old. These powerful instruments can identify the molecular components of a cell by measuring the mass of different molecules. The mass spectrometers are used for a range of projects, from identifying biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease to finding the mechanisms of drug resistance in metastatic melanoma. Under the DARPA contract, Old's facility will install to additional next-generation mass spectrometers at a cost of $2.2 million, which will also be used by scientists, students and local biotechnology companies who use the spectrometry facility.

SPARTA team members include Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and BioFrontiers Associate Director, Natalie Ahn; Associate Professor Michael Stowell of the molecular, cellular and developmental biology department; Professor Y.C. Lee of the mechanical engineering department; and Associate Professor Xuedong Liu of the chemistry and biochemistry department. The team also includes Associate Professor Nichole Reisdorph of the University of Colorado School of Medicine and National Jewish Health in Denver.

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BioFrontiers partners with Avery Brewing

Anonymous — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 07:00:00 +0000

BioFrontiers partners with Avery Brewing Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/31/2014 - 00:00

BioFrontiers

BioFrontiers partners with world’s oldest biotech industry: Breweries

In the basement of the Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building on CU-�鶹ӰԺ’s East Campus sits a machine that can sequence roughly 6 billion DNA segments in about a week.

By comparison, human DNA consists of roughly 3 billion bases, and it took more than a decade for the first human genome to be sequenced by an international team of scientists.

The machine, an Illumnia HiSeq2000, is the centerpiece of the BioFrontiers Institute’s Next-Gen Sequencing Facility, and it has become a critical piece of equipment for researchers across campus. But it’s also an important resource for the Front Range’s thriving biotech industry, which routinely relies on the facility for sequencing work.

The facility has partnered with all kinds of local biotech big hitters, including a company that makes biofuels and another that makes tests for genetic mutations. But in 2013, the Next-Gen Sequencing Facility forged a new relationship with a well-loved but less-obvious local biotech company: �鶹ӰԺ-based Avery Brewing.

“I would argue that brewing and brewing chemistry is one of the oldest biotechnologies in the world,” said Jim Huntley, director of CU-�鶹ӰԺ’s sequencing facility. “They do a lot of analysis on the quality of their product. Any biotech company does that. I don’t care if you’re making beer or you’re making an enzyme that’s used to catalyze some reaction; there’s always a degree of quality control.”

Huntley and Robin Dowell, an assistant professor at BioFrontiers, are helping Avery find a way to maintain its much-lauded beer quality less expensively by sequencing the genomes of six of the yeast strains used at Avery during the fermentation process.

An IPA that tastes like an IPA

The problem Avery wants to fix is the possible cross-contamination of yeast strains. Unlike large brewing operations, microbreweries use the same equipment to brew multiple types of beer using more than one yeast strain, which can occasionally lead to the yeast strains growing where they don’t belong.

The yeast used in the brewing process feeds on sugar to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. But along the way, the yeast produces other products that affect the flavor of the beer, including fruity esters, buttery ketones and spicy phenolics. Different strains of yeast produce different flavors, and so using the correct yeast is key to brewing the desired beer.

“For example, our IPA is fermented with a different strain of yeast than our Belgian wit,” said Dan Driscoll, Avery’s staff microbiologist. “We occasionally see our Belgian wit yeast is growing in an IPA tank and that’s a problem because that yeast is incredibly phenolic so the resulting beer smells clovy and spicy. In the interest of consistency, we can’t call our IPA our IPA if it tastes and smells different than the last batch.”

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=4yehwrdKRGM]

Though it’s rare, when cross-contamination occurs, the entire tank of beer, typically about 240 barrels, has to be flushed.

In the past, Avery has uncovered cases of cross-contamination by sampling the beer while it’s in the fermentation tanks, streaking the sample on an agar plate, putting the plate in an incubator and waiting 48 hours for the yeast to grow.

“What I said, being a microbiologist, when I first got here was, ‘It would be great if we could find a way to both identify this cross-contamination sooner and determine how severe it needs to be in order for us to start picking up on those off flavors,’ ” Driscoll said.

Driscoll, a veteran of the more traditional biotech industry, knew that Avery could purchase a machine that would allow it to quickly differentiate the yeasts based on their genetic codes. But there was a catch: the genetic codes were not known.

Through a connection in the biotech industry, Driscoll got in contact with Huntley, who said he might be able to help Avery with its problem.

“Since we get funding from the state to maintain and operate the facility and purchase equipment, we really want to engage with the local biotech communities and other regional research organizations to provide them access to cutting-edge instrumentation,” Huntley said.

Because Avery uses commercially available yeast strains, and because the microbrew industry has a culture of openly sharing techniques and tools, working with Avery could benefit Colorado’s entire brewing industry, which has a total annual economic benefit to the state of more than $400 million.

‘Think globally, sequence locally’

Avery provided Huntley with six of its yeast strains, including its house ale yeast, which is used in a half dozen of the brewery’s beers. At the Next-Gen Sequencing Facility, Huntley loaded the samples into the HiSeq 2000, which works by shredding multiple copies of the yeast’s DNA into tiny little pieces and then sequencing all those overlapping pieces at the same time to produce a coherent picture of its entire genetic code.

But just knowing the genetic code isn’t enough to solve Avery’s problem. Driscoll also needs to know exactly how the yeasts’ genetic codes differ from each other to be able to tell the yeast strains apart—which is where BioFrontiers researcher Robin Dowell comes in.

Dowell’s lab specializes in differences between yeasts, though she doesn’t typically study the strains that are used to brew beer.

“We focus on two strains that, from a genetic perspective, are about as different as any two random people,” Dowell said. “We look at inter-strain differences all the time, and what Avery really cares about is identifying strain differences they can actually leverage to say, ‘This strain is this one and that strain is that one.’ ”

Once the differences in the strains have been identified, Avery Brewing Company will be able to determine if a tank is contaminated with the wrong kind of yeast in a matter of hours rather than days. The contaminated beer will still have to be flushed, but the test will make it possible for Avery to free up the tank sooner, allowing them to start brewing another beer that they can actually sell.

For the Next-Gen Sequencing Facility, the continued partnership with Avery is just part of what they are charged to do—help strengthen the local biotech community.

“When the local biotech community is stronger, it allows for more startups and more product development, which brings more jobs to the area,” Huntley said. “As I always quip, ‘Think globally, but sequence locally.’ ”

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Lights, Cells, Action!

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Lights, Cells, Action! Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/19/2011 - 00:00 BioFrontiers

Lights, Cells, Action!

One of the best ways to really see something is to turn on the lights. Amy Palmer, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Biofrontiers Institute faculty member, is the kind of professor that can shine a light on subjects for her students, and shine a light on the cellular subjects in her lab.

Shining a light was the kernel of the idea behind fluorescent proteins: proteins that absorb energy at a specific wavelength and re-emit the energy at a different wavelength. Osamu Shimomura discovered the first fluorophore, called the green fluorescent protein (GFP), in jellyfish. GFP was then popularized and turned into a useful tool for cell biology by Martin Chalfie and Roger Tsien. Together, the three scientists shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2008 for their contributions. GFP gave scientists the ability to put these glow-in-the-dark molecules in cells and living organisms and watch action within cells that had never been seen.

“Snapshots of a football game won’t tell you how to play the game,” says Palmer, “Fluorescent proteins allow us to watch the game while it is in motion.”

Palmer’s group is developing tools and technologies around these pretty proteins, which now come in a rainbow of colors in addition to the original jellyfish green. She recently attached fluorescent proteins to the Salmonella bacteria to follow it as it invaded a host organism with the hopes of learning how to prevent the bacteria from taking over and wreaking havoc.

Palmer’s next target is not animal, not vegetable…it’s a mineral. Zinc is an essential trace mineral found in all humans, totaling almost two grams in the average adult. Next to iron, zinc is the most common mineral in the body and is found in every cell, and in large concentrations in the brain, retinas, pancreas and prostate.

Imbalances in zinc levels can cause a myriad of troubles, from Alzheimer’s to diabetes to prostate cancer. In addition, zinc plays important roles in growth and reproduction; taste, vision and smell; and even proper insulin and thyroid function. Zinc deficiency is a worldwide challenge causing problems ranging from stunted growth to fatal diseases.

Palmer is developing fluorescent probes that can attach to zinc. Defining the location of zinc and how it fluctuates in an organism is the first step in knowing how cells regulate it, and how we can regulate it in patients that have imbalances. For example, prostate cancer is difficult to diagnose and predict how it will respond to treatment. By measuring zinc levels, scientists may be able to predict the aggressiveness of the tumors and give a more accurate prognosis of the disease.

“We know very little about what zinc is doing at the cellular level,” says Palmer. “Fluorophores allow us to see how this metal is playing a role in some diseases like prostate cancer and diabetes.” She is aiming for a zinc-tracking technique to catch diseases early in their processes, but don’t expect to be injected with glow-in-the-dark proteins at your next doctor’s visit.

“There isn’t a clinical use for fluorescent proteins right now,” says Palmer. “There isn’t a machine for them that a doctor would use to look inside your body. What makes these proteins special is looking at what happens at the cellular level of an organism. We can see into cells and witness what an X-ray or MRI machine cannot. That fundamental level of understanding is going to lead us to bigger solutions.”

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Biomarkers light the way to cancer diagnosis

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Biomarkers light the way to cancer diagnosis Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/13/2011 - 00:00

BioFrontiers

Biomarkers light the way to cancer diagnosis

In an 18-year study released this summer by the National Cancer Institute, widespread screening for ovarian cancer was found to be ineffective in catching the disease. In fact, the screening often did more harm than good, leading women to unnecessary surgery and the complications that often come with it.

Similar issues have been raised about annual mammography screenings increasing breast cancer risk in women with a predisposition to the disease. The low-dose radiation used in the screening ratcheted up the susceptibility to cancer for women who were already at a higher risk—the women who need the screenings the most. Biofrontiers scientist, Hubert Yin, is on the hunt for a better way to find cancer early, without harming patients in the process.

Hubert, an assistant professor in chemistry and biochemistry, is studying biomarkers, which are traceable substances that allow scientists to track a process within the body. Using a biomarker is like tying a balloon to a friend moving through a crowd. Because you can see the balloon above the crowd, you are easily able to locate your friend. In Hubert’s experiments, the balloons are fluorescent molecules called a fluorophores, which chemically attach themselves to cells that indicate cancer is present, glowing so they can be seen and tracked.

Microvesicles are the objects of the fluorophores’ chemical spotlight. They are shed from the surface of cells and can actually help the spread and release of metastatic cancer cells. The presence of microvesicles is a key indicator that cancer is at work, and fortunately, they are easy to find in a simple blood or urine sample. Once Hubert chemically attaches fluorophores to these microvesicles, screening someone for cancer becomes as easy as looking for the glow. A lack of microvesicles means there is nothing for the fluorophores to attach to, which means they don’t glow. And no glow means no cancer.

“This is a great diagnostic concept,” he says. “Biomarkers like fluorophores give us efficient, non-invasive ways to detect cancer before it is diagnosed and after it is treated. Being a smaller, research focused organization gives us an advantage over big pharmaceutical companies when it comes to designing biomedical solutions. It is easier for us to collaborate across labs, and to innovative methods that lead us in the direction of new ways of treating cancer.”

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