Research casts new light on cancer treatment

Columbia University scientists, in collaboration with researchers from Harvard, have succeeded in developing a chemical process to absorb infrared light and re-emit it as visible energy, allowing innocuous radiation to penetrate living tissue and other materials without the damage caused by high-intensity light exposure. Their research is published in Nature.

"The findings are exciting because we were able to perform a series of complex chemical transformations that usually require high-energy, visible light using a non-invasive, infrared light source," said Tomislav Rovis, professor of chemistry at Columbia and co-author of the study. "One can imagine many potential applications where barriers are in the way to controlling matter. For example, the research holds promise for enhancing the reach and effectiveness of photodynamic therapy, whose full potential for managing cancer has yet to be realised."

The team, including Luis M. Campos, associate professor of chemistry at Columbia, and Daniel M. Congreve of the Rowland Institute at Harvard, carried out experiments using small quantities of a novel compound that mediates the transfer of electrons between molecules that otherwise would react more slowly - or not at all – when stimulated by light.