Family of dyes to be used in fluorescence microscopy imaging of cells in culture or entire organisms, including live cell imaging. The fluorophores are not toxic, and preferentially bind to lipid aggregates, such as intracellular lipid droplets. They also light up cells by binding weakly to several subcellular structures. Importantly, the fluorophores change color with the polarity of the environment and may be used to initially characterize alterations in organelle polarity. The most promising fluorophore, LipidPro, has been tested in fibroblast-based High Throughput Screens for the diagnosis of Faber’s disease.
CONTEXT
The ability to mark cells and to identify and characterize subcellular structures such as lipid aggregates is instrumental in basic and applied research, in medical diagnostics and drug screening for e.g. disorders involving lipid accumulation such as Gaucher, Farber, and Tay-Sachs diseases. A great majority of these studies rely on fluorescing-based detection methods.
A family of fluorophores was prepared through an efficient and low-cost synthesis method. They are non-toxic and rapidly enter in live cells in culture and small organisms. The staining protocol is fast, easy and straightforward. With a large Stokes shift and an emission spectrum ranging from blue to red depending on the polarity of the environment (solvatochromism), they selectively stain lipid aggregates and can be used for its detection and quantification in High Throughput Screens.
APPLICATIONS
The present dyes can be used for:
BENEFITS
IP RIGHTS
European patent application (EP17742298.7).
DEVELOPMENT STAGE
TRL 4: Small-scale prototype built in a laboratory environment.
Proof-of-concept: some probes are fully tested on cultured mammalian cells. One probe, LipidPro, is tested on zebrafish larvae and in High Throughput Screening assay for Farber’s disease diagnosis using fibroblasts of Farber patients.
KEYWORDS
Fluorophores
Lipid aggregates
Lipid-related disorders
Farber’s disease
Fibroblast-using diagnostics
DEVELOPED BY
Researchers from QOPNA – Organic Chemistry, Natural and Agro-food Products, CICECO – Aveiro Institute of Materials and iBiMED – Institute for Biomedicine, from the University of Aveiro.
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
Licensing agreement.
Joint development.
PARTNERSHIP
The University of Aveiro seeks partners within industrial manufacturers of biotechnology products, pharmaceutical companies, biodiesel producers or public organisms with interest in co-develop and/or commercialize molecular probes and cellular markers. The University also seeks partners with experience in diagnostics o lipid-related disorders, particularly metabolic diseases and syndromes.
Technology #CI15013
The University of Aveiro is a young and innovative university, which fosters entrepreneurship and technology and knowledge transfer, with expertise in a wide range of knowledge areas namely IT, Life Sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Health, Environmental Sciences), Nanotechnology and Materials Science, Mechanics, Physics, Mathematics, Building, Design and Management. uacoopera is the Technology Transfer Office of University of Aveiro. This office engages in value adding activities such as start-up and spin-off creation, support to university-industry cooperation (sponsored research and consultancy services), IP protection and prosecution, licensing, marketing, among others. It covers four main interrelated functional areas – Intellectual Property Management, Licensing, Entrepreneurship, and Industry Liaison.
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