Metabolic Imaging & Tissue engineering Group News

Prof. D. Papkovsky and Dr. A. Zhdanov published a tutorial review dedicated to technical aspects of monitoring and keeping the control of O2 in cell culture, by optical methods. The review covers the macroscopical (environmental) control of O2 by solid-state sensors and possible readout modes (microplate readers, high-content screening platforms, microscopes) available to those wishing to know exact levels of hypoxia  experienced by the cells in culture. This complements other reviews recently published by the group, covering general aspects of O2 measurements by different methods (2012) , the variety of biological applications where O2 measurements are needed ( 2013 ) and the problems and state-of-the-art of intracellular O2 probes ( 2015 ). The review published in Free Radical Biology and Medicine journal can be assessed here .

Congratulations to James Jenkins , who successfully defended his Ph.D. on 20-Oct-2016 at UCC. He pursued his Ph.D. studies in period of 2013-2016 (3 years) under supervision of Prof. D. Papkovsky and Dr. R. Dmitriev. His project addressed development of multi-parametric FLIM and PLIM live cell microscopies for improved design and studies of 3D tumour cell models. His published works include: design of O2-sensitive hybrid scaffold materials for 3D cell culture , study of expression and function of SPCA2 ATPase in colon cancer cells and imaging of T and O2 gradients in tumour spheroids . Well done, James!

How important is the temperature for physiology and cell metabolism? Is it uniform in the cell and tissue sample or not and how it affects the biochemical analysis of cell function?  Perhaps, the results and experimental approach reported in the recent study ' Sulforhodamine nanothermometer for multi-parametric FLIM imaging' by PhD candidate J. Jenkins, Prof. S. Borisov (Graz University of Technology), Prof. D. Papkovsky and Dr. R. Dmitriev can help answering these questions. The team designed new T-sensitive fluorescent nanoparticle-based probe and thoroughly evaluated it for possible cross-interferences (such as pH, viscosity, ionic strength) which normally negatively affect the performance of similar type of fluorescent dyes. Team demonstrated the performance of T probe in quantitative FLIM measurements, together with state-of-the-art O2-sensitive nanoparticles and subsequently probed 2D (monolayer) and 3D (tumour spheroids) models of cancer cells for the existence of