Annual-Report-2019

MOLECULAR IMAGING USING RAMAN
SPECTROSCOPY: FROM FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH
TO INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS
We are using Raman spectroscopy to demonstrate the impact of storage
conditions on the biophysical quality of lab-grown human skin equivalent
tissues. These skin equivalents are known as reconstructed human
epidermis or RHE, as they mimic the uppermost epidermal layer of human
skin.
Life & Health Sciences 2019
36
Dr Yuri Dancik
LE STUDIUM Research Fellow
ARD 2020 COSMETOSCIENCES
From: Agency for Science, Technology and
Research - SG
In residence at: Nanomedicines and
Nanoprobes (NMNS) - Tours
Nationality: American
Dates: October 2018 to June 2020
Yuri Dancik obtained his PhD in Chemical and
Biological Engineering from the State University
of New York at Buffalo in 2007. His main research
interests are understanding the physico-chemical
basis of chemical transport through skin and
applications in cosmetic, pharmaceutical and
toxicological science. In Buffalo, he developed
mathematical models of drug transport through
skin appendages. He worked at Procter & Gamble
(Brussels), developing in silico pharmacokinetic
methods for the prediction of skin sensitization and
systemic toxicity following cutaneous exposure.
From 2014 to 2018 Yuri was Senior Research
Fellow at the Institute of Medical Biology and the
Singapore Skin Research Institute. His colleagues’
and his efforts into the development and validation
of a novel microfluidic skin-on-chip platform were
recognized with a Global 3Rs Award.
Dr Franck Bonnier
Host scientist
Franck Bonnier obtained his PhD from the
Department of bio-spectroscopy for life sciences
as a member of the Médian CNRS group,
Université de Reims, France. Following his PhD,
he joined the FOCAS Research Institute, DIT in
2008 as a postdoctoral research engineer under
the National BioPhotonics and Imaging Platform,
Ireland, and as a member of the Biophotonics
and Imaging group specialised in the application
of biophotonics, especially Raman and Infrared
spectroscopy, in the biomedical field. In September
2014, Franck Bonnier joined the NMNS research
group at University of Tours (France) as associate
professor. The main field of expertise remains
the development of methodologies towards
implementation of spectroscopic techniques as
clinical screening tools for diagnostic or with a
particular focus on pharmaceutical and cosmetic
applications.
The development, characterization and use of RHE is an active area of
cosmetic and pharmaceutical R&D. Designed to replace animal tissues,
RHE are particularly useful for testing or screening new cosmetic
formulations and pharmaceutical topicals. To date, little is known on the
effects of common tissue storage conditions on the quality and in particular,
the barrier function, of RHE. Commercial RHEs are frequently cultured
and shipped in batches of 6 or 12 replicates. With testing and screening
applications often requiring large numbers of replicates, practical
knowledge on the effects of storage conditions is of significant value to
academic and industrial users.
The specific scientific goals are thus:
1. To investigate the impact of different storage conditions on the barrier
function of RHE. To this end, the penetration of resorcinol, a wellknown
cosmetic ingredient, in RHEs stored under different conditions
is tracked via confocal Raman spectroscopy.
2. To compare the spectroscopic results to resorcinol penetration data
obtained from a conventional, but more labor-intensive, diffusion
protocol performed in the RHE culture plates.
3. To assess how the information obtained by confocal Raman
spectroscopy complements that attained from the conventional
diffusion experiment.
In addition to answering a practical scientific question, the project is novel
in that it highlights confocal Raman spectroscopy as a method to assess
the barrier integrity of RHE.
The achievements to date are:
1. Optimisation of the conventional diffusion and Raman spectroscopy
experimental protocols of the spectroscopic data analysis (data preand
post-processing).
2. Acquisition of conventional diffusion and spectroscopic data for 6
different RHE storage methods and 3 different resorcinol formulations.
3. Analysis and interpretation of all conventional diffusion data. Raman
data analysis and drafting of a manuscript are ongoing.