QUA-ND-O: Intracellular Quantum Sensing Techniques for Personalized Medicines of Neurodegenerative Diseases

Project funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. (FCT) (Concurso para Financiamento de Projetos de Investigação Científica e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico em Todos os Domínios Ci), grant PTDC/NAN-OPT/32619/2017. Funded amount: EUR 239,427, as stated by the source. Runs 2018-07-01 to 2022-06-30. Keywords: Fluorescent nanodiamonds, Intracellular Temperature, Nanophotonics, Neurodegenerative disease, Engineering and technology. Source: OpenAIRE Graph, from the funder's project data (collected by OpenAIRE on 2025-07-19); national funding data, not CORDIS. Abstract given by the source: QUA-ND-O aims at developing QUAntum based sensing solutions to identify patterns of Neurodegenerative Disease (ND) that may lead to new Opportunities in finding personalized medicines. We propose to develop an all-optical method that allows nanoscale temperature and magnetic field sensing inside of cells at unprecedented spatial resolution. Recently it has been demonstrated that optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) signals of color centers in nanodiamonds, can be used to extract both parameters, temperature and magnetic field. The superior sensing capabilities of color centers in nanodiamond, are due to the long lasting quantum coherences that persist in the well-ordered diamond lattices with minor phonon couplings. The technique therefore is a true quantum sensing technology. First, the method shall be established in the laboratory and demonstrated using simple electronic circuits and magnetic nanostructures, whose thermal and magnetic profiles can be simulated; then, the outstanding biocompatibility and photostability of fluorescent nanodiamonds shall be used to translate the sensing capabilities to biosensing and medical research. Specifically, this project aims at analyzing neuronal cell models with Parkinson neurodegenerative disease (ND) pattern. Temperature and magnetic fields shall be measured inside of various cell models that can be used to study and develop personalized medicine of the disease. Both intracellular temperature and magnetic field could help establish a unique signature for ND (e.g Parkinson or Alzheimer) allowing obtaining either early diagnosis or understanding the mechanisms of protein aggregation within the disease. QUA-ND-O visa desenvolver soluções de detecção baseadas em QUAntum tecnologia para identificar padrões de Doenças Neurodegenerativas (ND) que possam conduzir a novas Oportunidades na procura de medicamentos personalizados. Propomos desenvolver um método totalmente ótico que permita a deteção à nano-escala de [shortened; the full text is on the OpenAIRE page]

Original source.

Source: OpenAIRE Graph: projects of national funders, OpenAIRE, from the project data of Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. (FCT). Retrieved 2026-10-22. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (OpenAIRE Graph). Selected metadata, adapted presentation; the publisher's record is authoritative. No endorsement by the source is implied. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).

AI-assisted summary: The QUA-ND-O project, funded by FCT with EUR 239,427, ran from July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2022. It focused on developing quantum sensing techniques for intracellular temperature and magnetic field measurements to aid in personalized medicine for neurodegenerative diseases. Suggested technology pillar: sensing. Generated by AI from the public source text; it may contain errors and the original source is authoritative.