Pilot 4.2

Optical microsensors (UNISALENTO). 

Aim of Pilot 4.2 is to apply optical sensing platforms for advanced in vitro and in vivo analyses of single cell metabolism and cell-cell interactions. The joint laboratories of Unisalento/CNR Nanotec (Lecce) will apply recently developed highly stable and innovative sensing tools, based either on nano- and microparticles or scaffolds (e.g., microparticles, hydrogels, nanofibers, ecc), to map, with high spatial and temporal resolution, proton fluxes and oxygen consumption of single cells, as well as to probe the endo-/lysosomal pH in individual cells, by high-resolution confocal microscopy and inverse statistical modelling. Such a data-informed approach will yield information about aspects ranging from the structure and dynamics of inter-cellular crosstalk networks to the functions of lysosomes to the heterogeneity of response of individual cells to proposed therapies, going beyond the possibilities offered by current chemosensitivity assays.