Label-free optical scattering and interferometry microscopy for functional imaging of thrombus

Abstract

Living cells adjust their cytoskeletal organization and mechanically change their overall shape by reacting to the changes of the microenvironment. The ability to quantify these dynamic events in micro and nanoscale in real-Time at the same time contributes to our understanding of the functional response of living cells. The combination to achieve both microscale and nanoscale imaging simultaneous at volumetric speeds is challenging. Traditional TIRF microscopy has excelled in measuring surface interaction but yet limited in imaging depth and requires fluorescent labelling. Likewise, the ability to quantify the total volume and shape change of biological cells as they interact requires either confocal microscopy or lightsheet microscopy. In this paper, we propose an in toto label free approach through coherent optical interference to measure volumetric information and surface interaction at the same time to provide a full view of the cell during dynamic activities. Show more