Laser science for health

The extremely wide offer of lasers, detection systems and techniques available at Laserlab-Europe in terms of wavelength, pulse duration, energy, and peak power permits to tackle multiple aspects related to health. Also, the scalability of many approaches from large Infrastructure installations to compact devices make it feasible to devise new concepts at the laboratory level and then deploy solutions for the clinics or homecare. Laserlab-Europe is equipped with many laboratories authorized for studies on cells, organoids, tissues, small organisms (e.g. zebrafish), and healthy volunteers. Further, good experience and track records in translational research and technology transfer are present.

The aim of this Expert Group is to create a link between Laserlab-Europe’s offer in terms of technology and expertise and the needs on the side of clinicians, biologists, industry. Researchers outside the Consortium are welcome. The activities span from focused discussion on specific topics, to lobbying activity and drafting of position papers, from design of joint experiments to proposals of EU projects.

Laserlab-Europe spans many health aspects:

• Prevention – identification and monitoring of physiological parameters linking lifestyle and nutrition to healthy status (e.g. non-invasive detection of beige or brown fat).
• Risk assessment and screening – clustering of subpopulation at risk deserving further surveillance (e.g. optical breast density as risk factor for breast cancer).
• Diagnostics – both non-invasive in vivo (e.g. optical coherence tomography, multi-spectral imaging, photoacoustic tomography, diffuse optical tomography, lifetime imaging) and on body fluids/biopsies (e.g. high-harmonic microscopy, optical coherence tomography, multispectral spectroscopy and imaging applied through endoscopes or catheters).
• Treatment – novel approaches for therapy (e.g. laser-driven FLASH and ultrahigh dose radiotherapy, advanced PDT treatment schemes, fabrication of scaffolds for tissue regeneration, unravel mechanisms of cancer treatments through light-activated drugs – photopharmacology).
• Therapy Monitoring – guiding clinicians during treatment and identifying personalized treatment protocols (e.g. monitoring neoadjuvant chemotherapy, grading interstitial thermal treatment, monitoring stroke patients).
• Rehabilitation – help patients in recovering functions and autonomy (e.g. monitoring brain hemodynamics and blood flow to drive brain plasticity in rehabilitation).
• Basic research – understand the origin of diseases and mechanisms of action (e.g. laser-based multiparametric and multiscale imaging, microscopy and/or spectroscopy techniques enable imaging of molecules, cells, tissues and their dynamic processes. Laser-microbeams allow to investigate mechanisms of DNA damage and repair).

More than 20 Laserlab-Europe AISBL members are active in the field and participate in this expert group.

For additional information on the Expert Group please contact Antonio Pifferi (POLIMI).