Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) focuses an ultra-short laser pulse on a sample and analyses the light emitted by the plasma it creates. Scanning the sample point by point yields a map of the elements it contains.
What makes it unique
- A benchtop, ultrafast instrument. An optical instrument that fits in a laboratory room rather than a large-scale facility.
- Multi-elemental. It sees light and heavy elements at the same time, whether natural to the tissue (such as calcium and sodium) or introduced, such as gadolinium contrast agents, metal particles or inhaled dusts.
- In the hospital. The technique was developed with the Institut Lumière Matière (Lyon), and the instrument, built with the company Ablatom, is the first of its kind to reach a clinical environment.
Uses
- Diagnosis. LIBS helped to reclassify a case of idiopathic lung disease as an occupational disease, and it is being validated in a first-in-world clinical study (MEDICO-LIBS, NCT03901196).
- Research on metal-related diseases: sarcoidosis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, occupational diseases, inhaled particles.
- Preclinical development of nanoformulations and molecules, and biodistribution of metal-based compounds.
- Quantification. Matrix-matched calibration standards with known element concentrations are produced for quantitative maps.
- Data analysis. Chemometrics and artificial intelligence, with partners in Lille.