What do jellyfish and fireflies have to do with lung cancer research?
Scientists in Scotland have developed a new imaging system that uses reporter genes linked to jellyfish fluorescence, firefly light production and PET imaging to follow tumours from the whole body down to individual cells.
The system was developed by researchers at the University of Glasgow and the Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute and is described in Nature Biotechnology.
The researchers tested it in models of lung adenocarcinoma and liver cancer. It is a research tool, not a test used in people with cancer.
How do jellyfish and fireflies help cancer researchers?
The system combines three different imaging signals in the same tumour cells.
One reporter produces red fluorescence. Fluorescent proteins used in modern research were originally developed from proteins found in organisms such as jellyfish.
Another reporter uses luciferase, the enzyme that allows fireflies to produce light.
The third reporter can be detected using PET imaging.
Each method works at a different scale.
PET and bioluminescence can help researchers locate and follow tumours inside the body. Fluorescence microscopy can then show what is happening at the level of individual cells.
What did the lung cancer study do?
The researchers built the three reporters into a mouse model so that selected cells could be tracked over time.
They then used the system in genetically engineered models of lung adenocarcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma.
Whole-body imaging helped researchers find and monitor tumours. They could then examine the same tumours at much higher resolution and study individual cells and interactions inside the tumour microenvironment.
The University of Glasgow lists the work within its lung cancer research programme.
Why combine several types of cancer imaging?
Different imaging methods answer different questions.
A whole-body scan can show where a tumour is and how it changes over time. But it cannot show the detail of individual cells.
Microscopy can show those cells in much greater detail, but it usually cannot provide the same whole-body view.
The new system links these different scales. Researchers can follow tumour development across the body and then examine specific areas in much finer detail.
The authors say this could help researchers study tumour growth, spread, treatment response and interactions between cancer cells and immune cells.
Could this imaging system be used in people with lung cancer?
Not in its current form.
This is a preclinical research platform built for genetically engineered mouse models.
It is not a new scan, diagnostic test or treatment for people with lung cancer.
Its value is in helping researchers study cancer biology in more detail and connect what they see on whole-body imaging with what is happening inside the tumour at cellular level.
What could researchers study next?
The system could be used to investigate how tumours develop, how cancer cells spread and how tumours respond to treatment.
It may also help researchers study changes in the tumour microenvironment, including interactions between cancer cells and immune cells.
The researchers describe it as a platform for following biological processes from whole-body imaging down to cellular resolution.
Key points
Researchers developed a new cancer imaging system that combines fluorescence, bioluminescence and PET.
The system uses reporter genes associated with fluorescent proteins and firefly luciferase.
It was tested in lung adenocarcinoma and liver cancer models.
Researchers could follow tumours from whole-body imaging down to individual cells.
This is a research tool used in preclinical models, not a new test or treatment for people with lung cancer.
Source: Raffo-Iraolagoitia XL, Alyamani A, May S, et al. Multiscale in vivo imaging of tumor evolution using a germline conditional triple-reporter mouse.Nature Biotechnology. Published 15 July 2026.