In the spotlight: UNTHSC researchers study fluorescence

Fort Worth stepped into the spotlight as a center for the emerging science of fluorescence following a $2.27 million state grant received by the University of North Texas Health Science Center last month.

“This is very important to us because there is a great deal of potential in this area,” said Dr. Scott Ransom, president of the UNT Health Science Center. “We’ve already put a lot into this, so receiving this grant is an important step for us.”

In March, Gov. Rick Perry announced more than $13 million in awards to six emerging technology companies and universities. Three were in North Texas, including the grant to establish a Center for Commercialization of Fluorescence Technology at the health science center.

Fluorescence spectroscopy uses a beam of light aimed at electrons in molecules, causing them to emit light at a lower energy level; this light is then measured and analyzed. The technique is useful in determining the structure of molecules, particularly organic compounds, and has wide applications in nanotechnology, bio-nanotechnology and plasmonics, the study of compounds smaller than a wavelength of light. The ability to measure these lightwaves is useful in biology due to indicator dyes, whose amount of fluorescence changes under certain conditions, typically calcium concentration, acidity or voltage. It can also be used for national security applications, such as explosives detection or to detect foreign substances in the air, such as anthrax spores.

According to Dr. Zygmunt Gryczynski and Dr. Ignacy Gryczynski, two of the biophysicists recruited to the health science center to start a fluorescence technology program, many commercial applications are on the horizon.

“For instance, one application would be to join fluorescence technology with nanotechnology and develop nanoprobes that bind with glucose and monitor glucose or cardiac or cancer markers,” said Ignacy Gryczynski. “We really need to publicize the technology and bring others in to find even more commercial applications for the technology.”

Using the technology, a company could easily develop a drug-compliance monitor, he said.

“You could actually measure whether the amount of the drug needed in the bloodstream was actually there, so you can tell if a patient was really complying with their prescription,” he said.

Other commercial applications include optical sensing, enhancing security systems, biomedical diagnostics and tissue imaging, he said.

Calling attention to fluorescence

The health science center began its investment in fluorescence a few years ago, luring the Gryczynski brothers from the University of Maryland at Baltimore and adding a mass spectrometer, the tool researchers use to look at small particles, a necessity in fluorescence research. It is one of only three of its kind in the country, according to the school.

The brothers originally hail from Poland where they began studying fluorescence at the University of Gdansk. Research started in Poland in the 1930s because it was cheaper than other technologies like X-rays.

“We began studying the technology because it was much cheaper, less destructive and easier to use than MRIs or other technology, and you can accomplish many of the same things,” said Ignacy Gryczynski.

The two came to Texas after several years in Baltimore because they felt like the rest of the country was unaware of the technology and its implications.

The school will take center stage in the field in November when it sponsors a short course on cellular and molecular fluorescence for researchers and industry officials.

“We feel like we have a mission to bring the science to the middle of the country,” said Zygmunt Gryczynski. “We want to get the word out to many of the companies here on how they can use the technology.”

The brothers remain enthusiastic about their move to Fort Worth and the health science center, in part, because of the location of the school.

“We bring colleagues down here and after work we all walk over to the museums,” said Ignacy Gryczynski. “They can’t believe it. We’re incredibly lucky.”

Both brothers live near the school as well.

“Can you imagine living near the school in Baltimore?” Zygmunt Gryczynski asked his brother.

“We didn’t like to work after dark there,” said Ignacy Gryczynski. “Here, we can walk to the lab if we want to work after dark.”

Contact Francis at rfrancis@bizpress.net

Potential applications for fluorescence:

•Blood-glucose monitoring

•Monitor cardiac markers for heart disease

•Monitor markers for prostate and breast cancer

•Pharmacological applications such as guiding a substance into a cell via nanoparticles

•Explosives detection

Source: University of North Texas Health Science Center