RESEARCH AREA
Metabolic Imaging
AI-driven imaging of cellular functions and metabolic networks
We develop techniques based on the “metabolic contrast”. While in traditional imaging probes are used to visualize morphological structures exploiting differences in qualities such as density or water content, in metabolic imaging we are able to image energy trasformations, by making probes interact chemically with their surroundings and in turn alter the image according to molecular changes occurring within the area of interest.
AI-driven
Metabolic Imaging
Novel Imaging
Biomarkers
Metabolic-driven
Medical Physics
Nutraceuticals
What this research line covers
Metabolic imaging at the Metabolic Intelligence Lab means reading the metabolic state of living cells and tissues from light: the endogenous fluorescence of NAD(P)H and FAD, the phase and fluidity of membranes, spectral confocal images and, in the clinical setting, PET and optoacoustic tomography. No dyes, no biopsy, and measurements that can be repeated on the same sample over time. Four lines develop from it, each with its own page.
AI-driven metabolic imaging
Machine learning applied to multiparametric fluorescence images: intracellular redox maps, membrane phase phenotyping and the metabolic phenotyping of single cells, including the unsupervised clustering of cells by their metabolic signature.
Novel imaging biomarkers
Turning optical readouts into biomarkers. Red blood cell membrane fluidity and micropolarity distinguish type 1 from type 2 diabetes, track disease progression, and are associated with diabetic retinopathy and with residual cardiovascular risk in treated patients.
Metabolic-driven medical physics
Quantitative imaging in the clinical setting: PET and multispectral optoacoustic tomography, with automated detection and classification methods developed together with hospital partners.
Nutraceuticals
What fatty acids, polyphenols and antioxidants actually do to membranes and mitochondria, measured by imaging: palmitic, palmitoleic and sapienic acid on membrane fluidity; punicalagin, idebenone and DHA on the cellular redox state.
The peer-reviewed work behind each line is listed on the Publications page, with every DOI linked.
The full publication list behind our imaging work is on the Publications page.