New photonics institute aims to bring science closer to industry

Klaus Müller-Dethlefs, director of Manchester’s new Photon Science Institute

The institute opened its doors last month with a brief to bring together scientists and industry to apply photonics in fields as diverse as monitoring cellular processes in real time and authenticating artefacts such as paintings and documents. One of the main areas of research will be developing and applying new and existing laser technologies and systems across healthcare, pharmaceuticals, life sciences and physical sciences.

One current area of research involves using pairs of laser beams working in a pincer action, like a pair of tweezers, to micromanipulate particles down to the level of individual cells. Other projects will include the development of new optical materials such as solar cells, and of non-invasive medical technologies, for example, a device for diabetics that measures blood sugar levels without piercing the skin.

Another focus will be on applications of optical coherence tomography (OCT), using desktop-sized devices manufactured by the US company Thorlabs of Newton, New Jersey. OCT combines the power of photonics and fibre optics to obtain high-resolution images of tissue down to the cellular level. In collaboration with clinicians at nearby hospitals and colleagues at the university’s School of Pharmacy researchers at the Photon Science Institute will work on applying the technology in cancer diagnostics and treatment.

 "Major applications that may be used soon on patients include detecting skin cancer," said Klaus Müller-Dethlefs, director of the institute and an internationally renowned scientist in the field of molecular spectroscopy. Another possible application would be taking an image during an operation to remove a tumour, enabling surgeons to check the surrounding tissue to see if any cancer cells are left.

A further key research area will be novel applications of fluorescence tagging. The PSI is building a detector that will be able to image and follow the fortunes of a single molecule within a cell using fluorescent tags. This can be used to identify cellular targets that are druggable, as well as to elucidate the precise mode of action of drug molecules. The detector is based on technology developed at CERN, the European Centre for Nuclear Research based in Switzerland.

Such applications will soon swallow up the initial £40 million investment, and beyond that the institute will be looking for collaborations with industry to support its work. Within the next few years the Institute plans to employ 30-full-time academic staff and bring in £5 million annually in research income.

About £3 million of that initially will come from the UK research councils and from charities, and the remainder from industry, said Müller-Dethlefs. "We'll go for major funding from Research Councils and the pharmaceutical industry, which is interested in imaging druggable targets and testing drug delivery and solubility."

The Photon Research Institute also plans to set up an industry club consisting of research intensive SMEs that are involved in the field. "They are on our wavelength, because they are ideas rich and research rich," Müller-Dethlefs said. "If we got 20 companies like that, we could make substantial income."

In recognition of the contribution the institute is expected to make to neighbouring companies some of the start up funding has come from the Northwest Development Agency.

The institute, which has been in planning since 2001, already has 27 staff and 60 associates, including researchers in chemistry, physics, medicine, life sciences and even humanities. Pavel Hobza, a specialist in molecular modelling of non-covalent interactions at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and Wolfgang Demtröder, a laser spectroscopy specialist at the University of Kaiserslautern in Germany, have been appointed as fellows.

In addition, the institute is planning research collaborations with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the US, the Max Born Institute in Germany and the Advanced Photonics Research Institute in South Korea. It also aims to bring in other researchers and students from around the world.

"We aspire for the highest excellence in research and applications of photon science, and to transfer that into broader arenas, including industry," Müller-Dethlefs said.

The institute will have more than £15 million worth of laser equipment, and will soon be located within a £55 million building scheduled for completion in 2007. Facilities include multi-photon imaging microscopy, various tuneable light sources, an extensive detector, optical, calibration and diagnostics resources, and access to an international synchrotron and free electron laser facilities.

Intellectual property will be in the hands of the academics who carry out the research. The aim is to spin off some of the technologies that are developed, with the university retaining a share, Müller-Dethlefs said. "We'll do this on a case-by-case basis," he added.

The market for photon science applications is nascent, but Müller-Dethlefs claims there is great potential. "If you can decrease the time a patient is in the operating theatre by one hour, the cost savings will be enough for the technology to be immediately implemented," he said. "We'll see a lot of that in the next couple years."