New Glow Stick Discovery could Help Detect Cancer
Siobhan Treacy | May 09, 2017Glow sticks often used to illuminate the crowd at concerts may be a new key player in detecting cancer. Glow sticks use chemiluminescence, a.k.a. chemical light to create that bright glow. Researchers found that chemiluminescence can be used to diagnose diseases through identification of biological samples. Researchers at Tel Aviv University have developed a new mechanism that produces 3,000 times brighter, water-resistant chemiluminescent probe to help identify diseases like cancer.
They found that by adjusting the electronic structure of probes that are currently in use improves their fluorescence. This discovery could lead to a new single-component system with multiple applications. These applications could include the detection and measurement of cellular activity, which may point to certain diseases like cancer.
"Chemiluminescence is considered one of the most sensitive methods used in diagnostic testing," said Prof. Doron Shabat of TAU's School of Chemistry, who led the research. "We have developed a method to prepare highly efficient compounds that emit light upon contact with a specific protein or chemical. These compounds can be used as molecular probes to detect cancerous cells, among other applications."
Chemical structure of the "glow stick" probe. (Prof. Doron Shabat)
Current chemiluminescent probes have an energy loss glitch, and the research conducted in collaboration with Dr. Christoph Bauer of Geneva University repairs this problem. Most probes use a mixture of one emitter molecule which detects the disease it is searching for, and two other ingredients (fluorophore and surfactant) which amplify the signal, making the disease detectable. There is energy lost in this process from the emitter molecule to fluorophore, and surfactants are also not biocompatible.
"As synthetic chemists, we knew how to link structure and function," said Prof. Shabat. "By adding two key atoms, we created a much brighter probe than those currently on the market. In addition, this particular molecule is suitable for direct use in cells."
Researchers developed sensors that can sense biologically relevant chemicals based on this molecule. They used a chemiluminescent molecule to image the cells by microscopy and measure the enzyme activity.
Currently, researchers are looking into new ways of increasing chemiluminescence of new probes for in vivo imaging.
This research was funded by Israel Science Foundation, the Binational Science Foundation, the German-Israeli Foundation, and the Israeli National Nanotechnology Initiative. It was published in ACS Central Science.
Does this mean the professor broke the quantum yield barrier? I don't know, but I seem to remember fluorescence quantum yields that were in fact higher than unity for one particular class of compounds, but I fail to remember which. φ will get you every time.
In reply to #1
Not recalling the compounds, but I do recall that the basic process starts with one (but not every one) of the first luminescence photons inspired by the mechanical input whacking an adjacent atom in just the right vector pattern to pop off two (or more?), photons all of which converge somewhat hyperbolically to a steady state of maximum luminescence for the fluorescing mass.
Intuitively, it would seem that chemical transformations associated therewith would gradually diminish the photon production rate/density, introducing a bit of confounding variable in quantifying (relating) the luminescence to the magnitude of phenomena (tumor?) desired to be measured. Detecting is one thing; measuring is another.