The goal of PARAFLUO is thus to develop and bring to the market a new optoelectronic system for spectrally-resolved fluorescence lifetime imaging (sFLIM) of fast dynamical processes in cells and tissues. This system is based on a new approach capable of outperforming the currently available instrumentation in terms of sensitivity, time resolution, data acquisition speed, compactness.
The main innovation of PARAFLUO is the development of an integrated detection system consisting of a SPAD (single photon avalanche diode) array, an ASIC-based, 8-channel time-correlated photon counting system and a micro-lens based optics, which combined with a confocal laser microscope will be capable to open completely new market opportunities for multidimensional (spatial, spectral and temporal) in-vivo imaging and spectroscopy in biology and medicine. The two years project, funded by the EU within the Seventh Framework Program, started on June 1, 2009.