Ms. Elena Monfort-Sanchez Profile

Elena Monfort-Sanchez

at Imperial College London

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Publications (4)

Proceedings Article | 20 June 2024 Presentation + Paper

Towards label-free flow cytometry for automated cell identification using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy

Aaron Watson, Nora Haanaes, Rachel Chambers, Alfie Roddan, Elena Monfort Sanchez, Mark Runciman, Alex Thompson

Proceedings Volume 13008, 130080G (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3021679

KEYWORDS: Microfluidics, Biological samples, Principal component analysis, Cancer, Education and training, Flow cytometry, Statistical analysis, Printing, Point-of-care devices, Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy

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Flow cytometry is widely used for cell identification and characterization and involves labelling biological and clinical samples with fluorochrome-conjugated antibodies specific to cell markers. This requires use of expensive exogenous reagents and necessitates complex pre-processing of samples. Additionally, extensive challenges arise in clinical samples consisting of highly plastic and heterogenous cell types observed in diseases such as cancer. As such, it is challenging to apply flow cytometry to point-of-care diagnostic applications. To address this issue, we investigated the combination of diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), microfluidics and machine learning to offer rapid, low-cost, label-free cell identification for potential deployment at the point of care. To achieve this, we utilized a compact fibre-optic diffuse reflectance spectrometer with multi-depth sensing capability. This system was applied to a proof-of-concept cell identification study where we were able to discriminate triple negative breast cancer cells from healthy fibroblasts using commercially available flow channel slides (Ibidi GmbH, channel dimensions: 5 mm width, 0.4 mm height). However, we observed high interexperimental variability, which was partially attributed to the relatively large fluidic channels. Thus, we investigated in-house fabrication of microfluidics of varying channel widths (0.6-2mm). To this end, we used a Mars ELEGOO 3D printer and commercially available printing materials to batch fabricate optically and mechanically viable microfluidic chips that were both cheap and customizable. Using these in-house microfluidic devices, we demonstrated DRS-based discrimination of cancer cells of different origins, further indicating the potential of this approach for point-of-care cell identification/characterization. Ultimately, we hope this work will lead to the development of cheap, deployable, and accurate point-of-care tools for rapid, label-free cell identification.

Proceedings Article | 13 March 2024 Presentation + Paper

A wireless semi-wearable sensor for assessment of gut function in low-resource settings

Nilanjan Mandal, Elena Monfort Sanchez, James Avery, Jonathan Gan, Qian Chen, Mulima Mwiinga, Rose Banda, Paul Kelly, Alex Thompson

Proceedings Volume 12832, 1283206 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3002394

KEYWORDS: Sensors, Fluorescence, Permeability, Fiber optics, Contrast agents

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SPIE Journal Paper | 28 February 2024 Open Access

Transcutaneous fluorescence spectroscopy: development and characterization of a compact, portable, and fiber-optic sensor

Elena Monfort Sanchez, James Avery, Jonathan Gan, Jingjing Qian, Nilanjan Mandal, Arjun Agarwal, Mulima Mwiinga, Rose Banda, Ara Darzi, Paul Kelly, Alex Thompson

JBO, Vol. 29, Issue 02, 027003, (February 2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.10.1117/1.JBO.29.2.027003

KEYWORDS: Fluorescence, Sensors, Fluorescence intensity, Photodiodes, Fluorescence spectroscopy, Skin, Magnesium, Light emitting diodes, Permeability, Contrast agents

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SignificanceThe integrity of the intestinal barrier is gaining recognition as a significant contributor to various pathophysiological conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, environmental enteric dysfunction (EED), and malnutrition. EED, for example, manifests as complex structural and functional changes in the small intestine leading to increased intestinal permeability, inflammation, and reduced absorption of nutrients. Despite the importance of gut function, current techniques to assess intestinal permeability (such as endoscopic biopsies or dual sugar assays) are either highly invasive, unreliable, and/or difficult to perform in certain patient populations (e.g., infants).AimWe present a portable, optical sensor based on transcutaneous fluorescence spectroscopy to assess gut function (in particular, intestinal permeability) in a fast and noninvasive manner.ApproachParticipants receive an oral dose of a fluorescent contrast agent, and a wearable fiber-optic probe detects the permeation of the contrast agent from the gut into the blood stream by measuring the fluorescence intensity noninvasively at the fingertip. We characterized the performance of our compact optical sensor by comparing it against an existing benchtop spectroscopic system. In addition, we report results from a human study in healthy volunteers investigating the impact of skin tone and contrast agent dose on transcutaneous fluorescence signals.ResultsThe first study with eight healthy participants showed good correlation between our compact sensor and the existing benchtop spectroscopic system [correlation coefficient (r)>0.919, p<0.001]. Further experiments in 14 healthy participants revealed an approximately linear relationship between the ingested contrast agent dose and the collected signal intensity. Finally, a parallel study on the impact of different skin tones showed no significant differences in signal levels between participants with different skin tones (p>0.05).ConclusionsIn this paper, we demonstrate the potential of our compact transcutaneous fluorescence sensor for noninvasive monitoring of intestinal health.

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Proceedings Article | 27 April 2023 Presentation + Paper

Quantifying hypoxia with diffuse reflectance spectroscopy for advanced prognostication and real-time response monitoring in rectal cancer: an in vivo feasibility study

Teddy Fletcher, Elena Monfort-Sanchez, Meysam Keshavarz, James Avery, Hutan Ashrafian, Ara Darzi, Alex Thompson

Proceedings Volume 12372, 1237206 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2648827

KEYWORDS: Hypoxia, Oxygenation, Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, Oxygen, In vivo imaging, Reflection, Cancer, Spectral response, Animal model studies, Spectroscopy

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