Biophotonics is a field of science and technology that uses light to obtain information about and influence biological systems. Scientists at Novosibirsk University have been conducting research in this field for several years. The results obtained by one of them, Alexander Moskalensky, PhD and Head of the NSU Physics Department Laboratory of Optics and Dynamics of Biological Systems were awarded a 1st degree prize for young scientists from the Regional government in the category “Best Young Inventor.”
The award was presented not for a single achievement, but for a set of results obtained recently. Among them is the platelet activation method, which makes it possible to monitor the progress of this process in each cell in real time (this was impossible using classical methods).
Another of his developments is a device for measuring the luminescence of singlet oxygen (one of the active forms of this gas). It is useful, for example, for photodynamic oncology therapy when cancer cells are destroyed by reactive oxygen species. “We use this device in the laboratory to analyze the chemical substances we have developed since most of them also produce singlet oxygen under the influence of light,” said Alexander Moskalensky.
The creation of such substances that convert light energy into biological effects was also included in the list of results that were recognized by the government prize. Previously, the laboratory team created a molecule that, under the influence of ultraviolet light, disintegrates and releases adrenaline. But because ultraviolet light is not very biocompatible, researchers have focused on substances that operate in the visible or near-infrared range. “One of the latest achievements is a molecule that, under the influence of red light with a wavelength of 670 nm, releases nitric oxide, an important biological molecule that in our body regulates vascular tone, pressure, and much more,” the scientist noted.
Currently, work in almost all areas continues (for example, platelet research is supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation).
Alexander Moskalensky emphasized,
We also began to use nanophotonics methods in order, in particular, to shift the activation wavelength of our substances to the region of tissue transparency (the so-called “therapeutic window” - the near-infrared region of the spectrum). This is important as a practical application of our results. I hope that the use of the new research infrastructure on the NSU campus will increase the efficiency of our work in the future.
We remind you that we are talking about a research center that is part of a new world-class university campus being built as part of the national project “Science and Universities”. According to its plans, it should be in operation no later than the end of 2025, and currently the selection of laboratories and scientific groups that will be among the first to use this infrastructure is underway.
