Workshop in honor of Prof. Giorgio Margaritondo
Event details
Date | 07.12.2017 |
Hour | 09:00 › 12:30 |
Location | |
Category | Conferences - Seminars |
This workshop is organised to highlight some of the research fields that were strongly influenced by by Prof. Giorgio Margaritondo in occasion of his retirement.The event will be completed by the Honorary Lecture by prof. Margaritondo, held on December 14th 17:15 - 20:00 RLC E1 240
Program :
9:00 Welcome – Harald Brune IPHYS Director
9:05 – 9:50 Maya Kiskinova (Elettra-Sincrotrone, Trieste)
Microscopy-imaging-scattering with Elettra Synchotron
and FERMI FEL
9:50 – 10:35 Antonio Cricenti (ISM-CNR, Rome)
Raman and Infrared SNOM nanospectroscopy
for Tissue Imaging and Early Cancer Diagnostics
10:35 – 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 – 11:45 Yeu-Kuang Hwu (Academia Sinica, Taiwan)
X-ray imaging of brain
11:45 – 12:30 Fauzia Albertin (IPHYS-EPFL)
Tomography of ancient manuscripts
Microscopy-imaging-scattering with Elettra Synchrotron and FERMI FEL
Maya Kiskinova
Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste, Area Science Park, 34149 Trieste, Italy
The complementary capabilities in terms of imaging, spectroscopy, spatial and time resolution of the instruments using synchrotron and free electron laser light have opened unique opportunities to explore the properties of complex functional materials. Some recent achievements in imaging and micro-spot spectroscopy, detecting emitted electrons or transmitted, emitted and scattered photons will be illustrated by selected results obtained at Elettra laboratory. The examples will include (i) properties of nanostructured matter as a function of composition, dimensions and ambient; (ii) evolution in morphology and chemical state of key constituents in electrochemical devices during fabrication or operating conditions; (iii) tracking ultrafast dynamics triggered by external stimuli with access to elemental and/or magnetic and electronic structure of the specimen.
Raman and Infrared SNOM nanospectroscopy for Tissue Imaging and Early Cancer Diagnostics
A. Cricenti
Istituto di Struttura della Materia (ISM-CNR), via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, Rome, 00133, Italy,
e-mail: [email protected]
Carcinomas are complex biochemical systems and in the past their diagnosis was based on morphological differences between malignant cells and their benign counterpart. Recently the paradigm has changed and great interest is focused now on the biochemical profile of tumours in view of the availability of new drugs that specifically target neoplastic cells. This new paradigm requires biochemical analysis of each tumour in order to establish the correct personalized oncological “target therapy”. Understanding the mechanism of molecular alterations of a specific tumour is a critical issue to prognosticate its behaviour and to predict the response to personalized therapy.
Raman spectroscopy (RS) is a non-invasive optical label-free tool increasingly used to get molecular fingerprints of biological tissues. It is able to provide bioanalytical information on any molecule with high specificity. Technological advances over the last decade have created a new and faster Raman imaging microscope instrument, providing morphological tissue investigation of large areas, coupled with point-by-point spectral analysis of biochemical composition. This option is important not only for discrimination between healthy and pathological tissues but especially for pre-cancerous tissue state earlier detection and understanding. Raman mapping of biological tissues has shown that the microscope can operate at a few micron resolution, in order to distinguish between healthy and malignant tissues [1].
The potential of IR spectroscopy to characterise cancerous tissues has long been recognised and studies of various cancers by many groups have established that regions of malignant tissue can be easily identified on the basis of its IR spectrum. Early diagnosis of cancer requires an instrument providing specific chemical images at sub-cellular level and the development of diagnostic imaging. A SNOM meets these requirements provided that it can be coupled with an appropriate infrared light source, that can be based on Free Electron Laser, femtosecond laser or quantum cascade laser [2].
We present Raman and Infrared Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy (SNOM) in their spectroscopic mode, that is related to the local chemical composition and, thus, to the biological properties of the sample, for tissue imaging and early cancer diagnostics. Applications in the case of Oesophagus [3] and Cervical Cancer [4] as well as in the progression of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) will be presented.
[1] Çulha M, Bioanalysis, 7, 2813 (2015)
[2] Cricenti A, Luce M, Tolk NH, Margaritondo G; Nanosci. Nanotechnol. Lett.; 3 (2011) 913;
[3] Smith AD, Siggel-King MRF, Holder GM, Cricenti A, Luce M, Harrison P, Martin DS, Surman M, Craig T, Barrett SD, Wolski A, Dunning DJ, Thompson NR, Saveliev Y, Pritchard DM, Varro A, Chattopadhyay S, Weightman P; Applied Physics Letters; 102 (2013) 053701.
[4] Halliwell Diane E, Morais Camilo LM, Lima Kássio MG, Trevisan Julio, Siggel-King Michele RF, Craig Tim, Ingham James, Martin David S, Heys Kelly A, Kyrgiou Maria, Mitra Anita, Paraskevaidis Evangelos, Theophilou Georgios, Martin-Hirsch Pierre L, Cricenti Antonio, Luce Marco, Weightman Peter, Martin Francis L; Nature Scientific Reports; 6 (2016) 29494.
X-ray imaging of brain
Yeu-Kuang Hwu, Ann-Shyn Chiang and Giorgio Margaritondo
Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
Comprehensive mapping of neural networks in the brain is a formidable but very exciting challenge. The complexity of the complete network is beyond the current technology to describe, analyze and understand.
It is now a consensus that the first step towards understanding brain functions is to construct a basic map – a connectome – showing the neural network at the level of single neurons and connections. As one of the six “high priority challenges” in the US BRAIN Initiative: “Maps at multiple scales: Generate circuit diagrams that vary in resolution from synapses to the whole brain”, we believe our approach will transform this vision onto reality.
The key element in our technology arsenal is the phase contrast micro- and nano-tomography. Using the same x-ray photons with the nanotomography instrument, the fine details of the same specimens can be imaged in 3D with <20 nm resolution. This allows us to examine the smallest network features, such as dendrites and dendritic splines, within specific regions, since they can be important for the whole brain network structure.
Tomography of ancient manuscripts
Fauzia Albertin
IPHYS EPFL
European manuscripts collections are part of our irreplaceable patrimony and contain an incredible wealth of precious documents and historical information. However, open access for the general public and scholars alike is often restricted due to preservation concerns. Massive digitization programs started in recent years are offering only a partial solution: digitization remains a slow and expensive process and the imaging of fragile or un-opened documents a formidable challenge.
The new x-ray tomography technique developed at EPFL can tackle these problems in a non-invasive way, making digitization of entire manuscripts feasible without opening them or turning pages, thus minimizing the handling and potentially accelerating the overall digitization procedure. Thanks to the high penetration of x-rays, we can acquire 3D tomographic images of multi-page manuscripts without opening them. The x-ray contrast necessary for the readability is obtained by exploiting the chemical composition and the high-absorbing power of the Iron Gall inks – largely used for European handwritten documents.
I will present the development of this technology, from the chemical investigations of the ancient inks to the tomography an unopened Venetian testament and of an 18th century, 200-page, handwritten book.