(2) Analytical Spectrometry

Interaction of exogenous and endogenous elements with the biological system and human body

    Given the increasing application of metal-based and rare earth element-based nanoparticles in different biomedical and environmental contexts, the accumulation of them and their transformation byproducts in the environment, particularly in water bodies, is inevitable. The characterization and elucidation of the nanotoxicity of these advanced materials is crucial in order to evaluate the interaction between these elements in both the environment and biological systems.

  By using a wide variety of elemental mass spectrometric techniques, including ICP-MS, liquid chromatography-ICP-MS (LC-ICP-MS), laser ablation-ICP-MS (LA-ICP-MS) and single particle/cell ICP-MS (SP-ICP-MS/SC-ICP-MS), we are retrieving qualitative and quantitative information about these metals/rare-earth elements/essential elements from solid and liquid samples, at cell and tissue levels by total elemental analysis, speciation and bioimaging. These analyses, together with in vivo and in vitro studies and toxicity investigations, form an important platform to study the impact of these novel materials on ecological and biological systems, including the human body.

    Previous studies have shown that disease status may be reflected from the elemental profile in biological specimens. Along this research direction, we incorporate machine learning to study the association between elemental profiles and different diseases. Examples of applications include the early prediction of gestational diabetes mellitus from fingernails, and the prediction and staging of nasopharyngeal carcinoma from plasma. With machine learning, elemental data and clinical information can be integrated.