Novel Nanoparticles for Optical Sensing and Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering for Detecting Disease using Extracellular Vesicles

The detection of diseases using optical sensing is the focus of the second flagship project. It seeks to develop novel luminescent nanoparticle systems which are optimised for optical imaging, temperature measurement and photoacoustic imaging. It will also use femtosecond machining to isolate extracellular vesicles (tiny liquid filled membrane sacs) and apply light to identify diseased cells. Clinicians are seeking advances in diagnostics and the use of biomarkers to improve treatment of breast cancer and pre-eclampsia in the placenta.