Cell control technology by terahertz shockwave

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 22K18992
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 30:Applied physics and engineering and related fields
• Research Institution: Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
• Principal Investigator: Hoshina HIromichi 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 光量子工学研究センター, 上級研究員 (10419004)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 原田 昌彦 東北大学, 農学研究科, 教授 (70218642)
• Project Period (FY): 2022-06-30 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: テラヘルツ / 照射 / タンパク質

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, shock wave irradiation system by THz pulsed wave is constructed by a laser-based THz source, a fluorescence microscope, and a cell culture system. We performed irradiation experiments on HeLa cells to observe the effects of THz pulse irradiation, but no significant difference from the control was observed. The reason for this might be that the intensity of the laser-based THz source was insufficient, whereas the THz free electron laser provided high-energy terahertz pulses in the previous experiments.

Free Research Field

応用物理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

今後，THz光源の小型化と高出力化が革新的に進むと考えられている．6G通信のようなTHz光の産業利用における安全性評価において，本研究は重要である． THz光は水に吸収されるため，体内組織に対する照射影響は全く無いと，これまでは考えられてきた．しかし，本研究の結果では，THz連続光の照射が遺伝子修復に影響を及ぼすことが明らかになった．今後，医療応用やTHz光の安全評価のため，さらなる研究が必要である．