University of Montreal<\/a>, said: “Even though this study was conducted in mice, this animal model replicates the genetic changes observed in human melanomas and could therefore potentially benefit patients.”<\/p>\nThe researchers explained that the approach also redefines the role of temperature in cancer detection.<\/p>\n
While tumors are known to generate more heat due to their higher metabolic activity, the signal has traditionally been too imprecise to use as a diagnostic marker.<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAQAAAAe\/WZNAAAAEElEQVR42mM8U88ABowYDABAxQPltt5zqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\")
<\/p>\n
The 10-inch \u00d7 10-inch \u00d7 2-inch module of the SMEAR-ULM system. (Jinyang Liang via SWNS)<\/p>\n
By Talker<\/p>\n
However, SMEAR-ULM changes that by turning subtle thermal variations into a highly sensitive and measurable signal.<\/p>\n
Liang, who specializes in ultrafast imaging and biophotonics at INRS, said: “At the core of the system is a patch of painless microneedles that deposits specialized nanoparticles just beneath the skin.<\/p>\n
“These nanoparticles form a temporary ‘intelligent tattoo’ that behaves like an array of microscopic thermometers.<\/p>\n
“When illuminated with near-infrared light, the nanoparticles emit visible light.<\/p>\n
“Crucially, the lifetime of this light emission \u2014 how long it lasts \u2014 depends directly on local temperature.<\/p>\n
“Because cancer cells consume more oxygen and nutrients than healthy cells, they produce additional heat, which can be detected through this optical signal.”<\/p>\n
Using an ultrafast imaging system, SMEAR-ULM captures all that information in a single high-speed snapshot, generating a detailed thermal map with sub-millimeter spatial resolution and sub-degree temperature sensitivity.<\/p>\n
Study first author Yingming Lai, of INRS, said: “We capture all the necessary information for an instantaneous temperature map in a single shot, which makes the method fast and robust to continuously monitor abnormal thermal responses in small melanomas \u2014 even within complex in vivo conditions.”<\/p>\n
Using the new approach, the research team successfully detected micro-melanomas as early as four days old \u2014 a stage at which they are usually far too small to be identified by conventional imaging techniques.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sylvain Meloche, a researcher at UdeM’s Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer and co-corresponding author of the study published in Nature Sensors. (Jinyang Liang via SWNS)<\/p>\n
By Talker<\/p>\n
Conversely, conventional thermal imaging methods rely on infrared technologies that suffer from limited spatial resolution and high noise levels.<\/p>\n
As a result, they usually only detect tumors larger than five millimeters (0.2 inches) \u2014 lesions already visible to the naked eye.<\/p>\n
Current microneedle-based sensing approaches also require repeated measurements, limiting their use in living subjects.<\/p>\n
The Canadian researchers say the SMEAR-ULM technology overcomes those limitations by combining microneedle encoding, rare-earth-doped nanoparticles, and ultrafast optical imaging into a system capable of real-time, single-shot thermal mapping in vivo.<\/p>\n
Liang added: “This breakthrough effectively transforms skin temperature from a secondary indicator into a precise diagnostic biomarker for early-stage melanoma.”<\/p>\n
He believes that, beyond skin cancer detection, the platform could be adapted to map other physiological parameters \u2014 such as acidity concentrations \u2014 opening new possibilities in biomedical imaging and diagnostics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The embedded SMEAR-ULM system on a robotic arm and a movable utility cart for autonomous and precise positioning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[75024,258,2749,2744,61,67404,60,3020,2751,1357,20064,3063,82,39923,210395],"class_list":["post-489846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-biopsy","tag-cancer","tag-clinical-medicine","tag-health-sciences","tag-ie","tag-infrared","tag-ireland","tag-light","tag-medical-specialties","tag-medicine","tag-melanoma","tag-oncology","tag-science","tag-stephen-beech","tag-thermography"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}