Multimodal imaging of lung tissue based on LIBS, MALDI and histology fusion to unravel sarcoidosis causes

Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory, granulomatous disorder with unknown cause highly associated with occupational exposures. It has geographically variable prevalence, with an elevated cost for the patients. It can be detected among metal-exposed workers, firefighters, rock, glass wool or agriculture workers. The most prominent example being rescuers in the World Trade Center in 2001. The need for accurate information about the exposures and causes of sarcoidosis is a limiting factor for clinicians, therefore, supplying them with relevant information will improve the patient's healthcare trajectory.The aim of imATLAS project (IMaging Analysis of Tissues via LAser Spectrometry) is to develop a novel multi-analytical procedure based on LIBS and MALDI-MSI, in combination with standard histology, to identify, localize and relate exogenous and endogenous agents allowing to elucidate possible external causes and biomarkers of sarcoidosis. A data analysis pipeline will be created containing all the bio-statistical steps, graphical representation, exposure and biomarker search approaches, as well as the image fusion results, to provide a global view with elemental and molecular information of the tissue, in addition to the pathologic information provided by histology. The scripts will be publicly accessible, available to other researchers as well as widely adaptable to different imaging techniques and instruments. Furthermore, the results obtained will be released as an easy-to-read file (Quicklook) to present all the useful multimodal analytical information to clinicians and optimize the diagnosis and treatment of patients.