While an understanding of many of the building blocks and processes of life has been forged by taking cells and systems outside the body, much more can be learnt from working within. The Centre of Excellence in Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP) will perform the science required to open new windows into the body. This interdisciplinary program aims to enable targeted measurements of biological, chemical and physical processes to be performed within the complex and dynamic microenvironment that cells experience, creating scientific insights and disruptive technologies.

   One of the key technologies developed by the Centre is fluorescence, which has now become one of the key detection methods in genomics, proteomics, cell biology and biomedical diagnostics. Ultrasensitive fluorescence detection strategy requires bright and stable bioprobes that have high absorption coefficients and high quantum yields and excellent signal to background ratio. Nanoparticles are especially attractive because of their capacity for molecular targeting. In the first part of this talk I will describe our achievements in the development of nanoparticle bioprobes for providing these features.  Several strategies were used to improve the detection sensitivity, including time-gating, increasing the density of emitters (nanoruby, upconverting nanoparticles), and modification of luminescence properties by plasmonic amplification (Ag@SiO₂ nanoparticles with core-shell geometry).

    Further, I will discuss our advances in extracting information from endogenous fluorophores in biological systems. Biological cells are very heterogeneous and significant major subpopulations have been uncovered in stem cells, neurons, cancer, immune cells and many other cell types. The understanding of these biochemically and functionally different cell subpopulations will revolutionise biology and medicine. We developed of specialised characterization hardware and analysis tools using autofluorescence hyperspectral imaging able to identify and help select cell populations with different biochemistry, without biochemical interference with these cells. These methods have been applied to a number of cell types including olfactory neuronal cells, adipose-derived stem cells, induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells, motor neurone disease cells, various cancer cells, embryo and diabetic tissue. We explain how our method responds to commercial and clinical needs across a broad spectrum of medicine and the life sciences.