Lewis Dowling
School of Pharmacy and Bioengineering
FTIR-spectroscopy for the diagnosis of lung cancer : Can glass be used as a substrate ?
The incidence rate for cancers in the UK is increasing . Translating into an increasing workload in pathology departments and causing a slower turnaround time for cancer diagnoses . An automated system that could identify cancerous cytology samples from non-cancerous could reduce the workload . Fourier transform infrared ( FTIR ) spectroscopy has the potential to make up part of this automated diagnostic system . FTIR-spectroscopy can be used to generate spectra of cells or tissues that provides biochemical information . An increasing body of research has shown FTIRspectroscopy can be used to distinguish cancer cells from non-malignant cells . However , there have been hurdles preventing the incorporation of FTIRspectroscopy into pathology laboratories . One drawback is the expensive cost of substrates such as CaF2 and BaF2 , prohibiting its use in the health service . My research investigates the use of glass coverslips with a thickness of 0.12-0.17 mm as a substrate . Glass is not regularly used for FTIR-spectroscopy because it obscures the fingerprint region of the spectra . However , using glass coverslips allows areas within the fingerprint to be viewed along with the lipid region . My work aims to demonstrate how using a standard glass substrate with FTIR-spectroscopy could be incorporated into a clinical setting to aid with cancer diagnosis .
Postgraduate Conference 2021 Page 22