I-Corps: High Content Label Free Imaging of Tissue using a Novel Laser Source

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力包括激光科学、显微镜技术以及活组织、细胞和微生物的整个生物成像光谱。这包括基础生命科学和环境研究，其中先进的显微镜和细胞测量仪器通常用于收集细胞培养，动物和人类标本的数据。目前，大多数这些测量都需要使用昂贵的化学或生物“标签”来识别感兴趣的目标。这个标记过程是耗时的，昂贵的，并经常导致不可逆转的损害标本。这项技术在很大程度上消除了对这些标签的需求，大大降低了进行实验所需的成本和时间。这意味着宝贵的公共和私人研究资金将取得更大的成就。此外，这项技术的潜在商业化计划包括将其提供给现有的显微镜和仪器制造商，以便它可以很容易地集成到现有的系统中。这个I-Corps项目及其智力价值涉及到一种先进的技术，可以在微观分辨率下快速捕获活组织的图像，并立即从这些图像中提取有关细胞和组织的活力和功能的丰富信息，而无需化学染色或组织准备。这项技术是在一所主要大学进行的十多年研究的结果，研究小组创造了一种新的可编程激光光源，该光源可以定制并发射短脉冲光，与活组织内的特定分子成分相互作用，基本上使血管，不同的细胞和癌组织“点亮”具有独特的光特征。通过将这种激光源与先进的显微镜和研究团队开发的软件相结合，新一代成像设备已经开发出来，可以显着提高准确性和速度，并降低组织学的成本，目前用于显微镜下评估死亡，固定和染色组织切片。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project encompasses laser science, microscope technology, and the entire spectrum of biological imaging of live tissues, cells, and microorganisms. This includes basic life science and environmental research where advanced microscopes and cell measurement instruments are used routinely to collect data from cell cultures, animals, and human specimens. Most of these measurements currently require the use of expensive chemical or biological "labels" to identify the targets of interest. This labeling process is time consuming, expensive, and often results in irreversible damage to the specimen. This technology largely eliminates the need for these labels, substantially reducing both the cost and time required to perform experiments. This means that precious public and private research funds will accomplish more. In addition, the potential commercialization plan for this technology includes offering it to existing microscope and instrument manufacturers so that it can readily be integrated into existing systems.This I-Corps project and its intellectual merit involves an advanced technology for rapidly capturing images of live tissue at microscopic resolution, and immediately extracting a wealth of information about the viability and function of the cells and tissue from those images, all without the need for chemical staining or tissue preparation. This technology is the result of over a decade of research conducted at a major university where the research team created a new programmable laser light source that tailors and launches short pulses of light to interact with specific molecular components within the live tissue, essentially making blood vessels, different cells, and cancerous tissue "light-up" with unique light signatures. By combining this laser source with an advanced microscope and software also developed by the research team, a next-generation imaging device has been developed that could dramatically improve the accuracy and speed, and lower the cost of histology, which is currently used to microscopically assess dead, fixed, and stained tissue sections.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.