\u201cIt was an unexpected and significant breakthrough, with the potential to elucidate biochemical processes related to disease progression that have been impossible to visualise,\u201d Massi says.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The ARC gave strong support to the new research direction, awarding Massi a five-year Future Fellowship to support biosciences. This was complemented in the same year with an ARC Linkage grant to establish a state-of-the-art spectroscopy facility at Curtin.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the time it was a missing capability for WA\u2019s research in the field of luminescence,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were facilities in Australia, but they weren\u2019t tailored for our specific characterisation needs, and we couldn\u2019t routinely access them.\u201d<\/p>\n
From the outset, Massi\u2019s team represented a diverse and heavily international research program, with several PhD students from European countries. The new facility enabled him to broaden the team\u2019s research and establish strong new connections across Australia and internationally. Demonstrating the scope of collaboration, between 2011 and 2016, he co-authored 44 peer-reviewed papers with researchers from organisations including the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), the University of Bologna, Italy; and the universities of South Australia, Adelaide, Queensland and Sydney.<\/p>\n At UniSA, chemist Dr Sally Plush was interested in developing better techniques for cell imaging, and she engaged the Curtin team to prepare and characterise a series of luminescent transition\u2010metal compounds. With their ability to selectively absorb colours from white light, the compounds offer significant potential as molecular markers, designed to reveal the presence of the intracellular target molecules they bind with.<\/p>\n Massi was subsequently invited to a UniSA seminar to discuss his team\u2019s expertise. There, he met cell biologist Professor Doug Brooks, and before long the Curtin team were developing luminescent compounds for application in pathophysiology. This led to another unexpected breakthrough: although their focus had been protein markers, the UniSA researchers discovered that one of Massi\u2019s new compounds stained lipids.<\/p>\n \u201cLipid staining has been a frustrating area for biologists.\u201d Massi explains. \u201cThe compound commonly used is toxic and can\u2019t be applied to live tissue samples.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n “It also has longevity issues \u2013 after thirty seconds the luminescence has gone, and it has a habit of attaching to non-target molecules.\u201d<\/p>\n Lipids have a prominent role in many aspects of cell biology \u2013 hormone regulation, inflammation and metabolism, for example. Studies of intracellular lipids therefore inform our understanding of diverse illnesses and conditions, including metabolic disorders and obesity, neurodegenerative diseases, immune disorders, heart diseases and cancers.<\/p>\n However, for the reasons Massi described, studies into the cellular processes involved have been hindered by the inability to visualise lipids in live cells. The UniSA team\u2019s chance discovery thus launched an intense research effort to develop a new compound for staining lipids in live cells. The resultant metal-based compounds are not only non-toxic, they are also resistant to photobleaching and will remain bright for days. Furthermore, they are effective for the biomolecules known as polar lipids, which include cholesterol.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is significant, because there\u2019s a link between the volume of intracellular cholesterol and the stage and aggressiveness of tumours,\u201d Massi says.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were able to stain live prostate cancer cells and easily see the difference in lipid content.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Recognising a major commercialisation opportunity, in 2015, Curtin and UniSA established the joint start-up company ReZolve Scientific<\/a>, which introduced five products to the diagnostics market<\/a> from one patent<\/a>. Two further provisional patents were obtained in 2015\u201316<\/a>. The company then commenced promoting its products as tools for visualising cellular structure and function that will help generate new knowledge in cell biology and defining the mechanisms of disease.<\/p>\n Hence, diagnostics and therapeutics are set for a step change. The advance in imaging capabilities will enable new knowledge about cellular processes and the mechanisms of disease, with implications for biomedical, environmental and food sciences. Accordingly, the global science community is paying attention, and the UniSA-Curtin team has published several peer-reviewed papers in leading journals, including PLOS ONE. <\/em>Testament to the products\u2019 capabilities, the September 2016 cover of the molecular biosciences journal FEBS Letters<\/em> features an impressive image<\/a> from the team\u2019s paper published in that edition.<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s impact in the field of luminescence is clearly gaining momentum, helped by the timely funding support provided to Massi, whose team now has nine doctoral students. Curiously, Massi\u2019s own research career began in Bologna, where he obtained his PhD at the Institute of Nanostructured Materials.<\/p>\n Just 11 years later, the Royal Australian Chemical Institute honoured his research contribution with the 2016 Organometallic Chemistry Award. Notably, the ReZolve team publicly expressed their congratulations, and added \u201cwe wouldn’t be here without his amazing science\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New luminescent materials are heralding the next era of innovation in medical diagnostics, communications, solar energy and numerous other technologies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4182,"featured_media":6922,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[110],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-6921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chemistry"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"This story is from A Decade of Impact","content":"![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Cell-508x420.jpg\")