Colouring the Dark in Fluorescence Light

ongoing

Abstract The radical vision of CoDaFlight (Colouring the Dark in Fluorescence light) is the development of a next-generation imaging platform capable of revealing in real-time new and more accurate information related to a patient’s body and its diseases through an innovative time-domain fluorescence imaging (tdFLI) technology. Real-time imaging of fluorescence lifetime, deep into the patient, permits the unlocking of rich information, where today’s medical imaging systems remain in the dark. This novel, breakthrough technology is expected to find in first instance broad applicability during medical surgery, where it will influence intraoperative decision-making on a per patient basis. The consortium encompasses unique, complementary and multidisciplinary expertise, by bringing electronic and biomedical engineers, physicists, chemists, medical scientists and medical doctors together. In a multidisciplinary, holistic approach they allow both parallel and integrated research progression, on semiconductor image sensors, mathematical algorithms, fluorescent dyes, and biological proof of concepts under medical guidance. CoDaFlight will kickstart a new biomedical research field, the development of new solutions towards unmet clinical needs and addresses the growing need for safe diagnostic tools that can interrogate molecular and/or physiological parameters in real-time for immediate feedback during medical interventions or for continuous health monitoring. The objectives of CoDaFlight are to develop the technological foundations that are needed to enable real-time in vivo tdFLI in medical practice and to integrate these foundations into a complete working imaging system. CoDaFight will demonstrate and disseminate the capabilities and potentials of this novel technology through real in vivo proof-of-concepts with the goal to facilitate technology acceptance by end-users and uptake in new markets and applications.