Available

Project reference

2024_P11_Stasiuk_Shapey

Start date

June or October 2025

First Academic supervisor

Dr Graeme Stasiuk

First Clinical supervisor

Dr Jonathan Shapey

4

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Engineering gold based nanomaterials for image guided surgery in glioblastoma

Glioblastoma has a median survival rate of 15 months. The primary therapy is surgery, but tumour is frequently left behind because it is very difficult to delineate healthy tissue from the tumour. This project aims to develop a series of gold based fluorescent nanoparticles targeted for glioblastoma, with a unique emission profile in the near infrared region (NIR) (700- 1200 nm). This fluorescence emission will be married with an advanced optical imaging technique called hyperspectral imaging (HSI) that has the potential to quantify fluorescence and detect low levels of fluorescence not visible to the human eye. HSI will allow the surgeon to better delineate healthy tissue from tumour, by pairing the NIR fluorescence of the gold nanoparticle through multiple spectral windows, reducing the effects of tissue autofluorescence and allowing for safer, more precise surgery.