CFP - Special Issue

Nanophotonics and theranostics: will light do the magic?

Guest editor:
Dmitri Lapotko, Ph.D.
Director, Joint American-Belarussian Laboratory
for Fundamental and Biomedical Nanophotonics
Rice University
Physics and Astronomy
MS 61
6100 Main Street
Houston, TX 77005

Tel: 713-348-3708
Fax: 713-348-4150
Web: http://lapotko.rice.edu

Email:

Well known ability of light to act through biological, chemical, mechanical and thermal pathways at molecular and cellular levels in diagnostic and therapeutic applications, a high speed of light manipulation and a remote nature of optical methods suggest that the light may successfully connect the diagnosis, treatment and even the guidance of the treatment in one theranostic procedure. Theranostics emerged recently as an attempt to  address the fundamental limitations in current medicine. The first limitation in medical practice is inherent in a system in which diagnosis, therapy and therapy guidance are three discrete and isolated stages. This separation slows the treatment and lowers its accuracy. Theranostics is a new, combined procedure that unites the three above stages in one single process. The second limitation relates to the low sensitivity and specificity of current medicines that often cannot access diseased cells in a healthy host and thus cannot support early-stage diagnosis and treatment. The solution is the development of a theranostic method and agent that functions at the level of individual cells. At present no technology or probe can provide cell level theranostics in clinic because this requires probes with tunable and/or multiple functions. We invite researchers to share their ideas and results related to:

• optical techniques that may support the diagnosis and treatment in one connected method;
• multifunctional nanoparticles and other materials with optical excitation and detection that support theranostic functions;
• in vitro and in vivo models for development and testing of theranostic technologies.

Manuscripts for the special issue can be sent directly to the guest editor(s) by email with the subject "Nanoph Special Issue", or submitted online at http://www.thno.org/ms/submit (mark "Nanoph Special Issue" in the "Suggested reviewers" field to identify the paper).

Detailed formatting instructions, in particular, the formatting of references, can be found in http://www.thno.org/ms/author.

All inquiries should be sent to the guest editor(s) at the above email address.