Sensing and manipulating hypoxia with innovative biosensing and tissue engineering tools
Objectives
Oxygen supply and tissue hypoxia are of paramount importance for tissue development, repair and recreating tumor microenvironment. The Dmitriev group and collaborators intend to address
development of innovative O2 sensing probes having shortened emission lifetimes (<1 us) compatible with fast-PLIM and widely available FLIM platforms, including multiphoton FLIM and PLIM. Such probes will be modified and produced in biocompatible form, to address their applications in intracellular and extracellular (ECM-associated) sensing modes. In addition, expanded biocompatibility with 3D models of microbial biofilms, aquatic organisms and interspecies communities are sought.
While ‘sensing’ and mapping cell and microtissue oxygenation and their gradients, it is intended to explore use of ‘active’ oxygen-binding proteins, enabling microfabrication of O2 gradients in 3D cultures, organoids and ‘assembloids’
Host Academic Institution: Ghent University