Giulia Ossato, product manager, Confocal, Leica Microsystems discusses how advances in imaging techniques could improve drug discovery research.
Drug Discovery
Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is the most advanced stage of infection by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). While AIDS is a secondary immunodeficiency syndrome that develops because of a persistent viral infection, there are many other immunodeficiency syndromes that are primary diseases because they are caused by inherited genetic defects. One such primary immunodeficiency syndrome was discovered last year, which has shed more light on how human immune systems work. To better understand the genetic cause of this new disease and connect it to cellular functions in the human immune system, researchers utilised advanced tools such as fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) and Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET).
FLIM produces images based on lifetime, the time it takes a molecule to return to the ground (lower energy) state by emitting a photon. Fluorescence lifetime depends on the fluorophore and its micro-environment and it is independent of concentration. The lifetimes obtained for each image pixel are colour-coded to produce the contrast and the corresponding FLIM image (even if the fluorophores emit in the same spectral range). The advantages of FLIM make it ideal for functional imaging and biochemical sensing, enabling measurements of parameters such as the pH and temperature of the local molecular microenvironment.