An Irish scientist is head of a leading European Union labaratory in Italy where light is being used to diagnose cancer, writes Dick Ahlstrom
A University of Limerick graduate heads an EU research team based in Italy that uses light as a way to detect cancers. The same method is being applied to the detection of toxins and harmful chemicals.
Prof Maurice Whelan is based at the EU's Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy. There he leads the "Photonics Sector" within the Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP). In effect he uses light signals as a way to spot specific proteins that can indicate early cancers and detect changes in cells both in vitro and in vivo.
He and other EU scientists are involved in a major community briefing on cancer research in Europe next Monday in Amsterdam. They will describe the work being done to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancers.
Whelan's latest work is aimed at developing a high throughput automated method to test for chemicals and assess their toxicity to healthy tissues. "This robotic automated system is a step towards a miniaturised laboratory on a chip," says Whelan, the idea of acquiring a wealth of biological information from a single sample using a device no bigger than a microchip.
Whelan completed his PhD at UL in 1990 and took up postdoctoral research at Ispra. "I came here originally on a Marie Curie post-doctoral fellowship," he says. He retains strong links with the university however, as an adjunct professor of biomedical materials in UL's Stokes Research Institute within the College of Engineering.
He supports research opportunities at Ispra for UL PhD students, 15 of whom have spent part of their studies doing research at the IHCP. Now more researchers from UL will be travelling to Ispra after the university received Science Foundation Ireland funding for a project on early diagnosis of bowel cancers. "People in that project will be coming to us to focus on photonics," says Whelan.
Whelan is a specialist in photonics or optics. "We apply optical techniques for measuring and sensing," he explains. He was originally involved in laser metrology and later the development of sophisticated fibre optic sensors. One such project involved a whole-building sensor system that monitors subsidence and temperature throughout the cathedral in Como, northern Italy.
Since then his research has moved towards nano-biotechnology, the development of biosensors and biomedical imaging systems that allow the analysis of tissues and cells, both in vitro and in vivo. One approach is based on the use of "fluorescent spectroscopy", the study of the fluorescence given off by some substances when exposed to ultraviolet light.
"Most organic materials like tissues have biomolecules that when they absorb UV light, they emit longer wavelength light," he explains. "We use UV lasers and analyse the spectrum of the light that is emitted."
The technique is becoming increasingly sensitive and can identify the presence of individual proteins, provided they fluoresce. One case where this has proved particularly successful relates to a protein called PP-IX that accumulates in cells affected by inflammation, often a precursor to diseases such as cancer.
PP-IX fluoresces very well, and using this Whelan and colleagues at two research centres in Strasbourg developed a new endoscope, a powerful tool of value to surgeons attempting to visualise diseased tissues when treating pancreatic cancer. It allows them to identify and remove cancerous tissue while leaving healthy tissue behind. The device will soon undergo human trials at the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam.
Whelan has now been appointed project leader of an IHCP initiative to develop advanced techniques for chemical testing. It arises because of two EU directives, one blocking the use of animal testing by cosmetic manufacturers and another called REACH, better known as the chemical directive.
His photonic approach will allow in vitro tests using cell cultures, monitoring changes to cell activity or shape after the introduction of chemical substances. The directive involves about 30,000 different chemicals and Whelan's goal is to develop a high-speed robotic toxicity testing system that can carry out the thousands of tests needed under these two directives.