I-Corps: Multiplexed Brillouin Microscopy

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是多路布里渊显微镜的发展，它引入了一种新的显微镜模式，对比度是理想的，但目前还没有。这种类型的显微镜在眼科屈光手术中有应用，目前对高危患者的筛查是基于晚发性形态学指标。除了在眼科的主要应用之外，该技术还可以提供一种非侵入性的方法来提取有关形态和化学途径的信息，而不是机械性能。机械信息需要对样品进行扰动，通常是破坏，从而影响所需信息的质量。广泛使用的布里渊仪器可以帮助解决这一差距。这个I-Corps项目的重点是基于样品散射光的光谱分析开发布里渊显微镜，这可以制作材料纵向弹性模量的高分辨率三维地图。布里渊光谱已广泛应用于材料检测和环境传感。在过去的二十年里，一种新型光谱仪提高了采集速度，使生物应用成为可能。本项目开发的布里渊技术可以通过同时将读出多路复用到多个点来进一步加快速度。这种多路布里渊显微镜扩展了该技术的潜在应用类型。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 is the development of multiplexed Brillouin microscopy which introduces a new microscopy modality with a contrast that is desirable, but currently unavailable. This type of microscopy has applications in ophthalmology for refractive surgery, where current screening for at-risk patients is based on late-onset morphological metrics. Beyond the primary application in ophthalmology, the technology could offer a non-invasive approach to extracting information about morphology and chemical pathways, not mechanical properties. Mechanical information requires perturbation, often destruction, of the sample, which affects the quality of required information. Widely available Brillouin instruments could help address this gap. This I-Corps project is focused on the development of Brillouin microscopy based on spectral analysis of light scattered from a sample, which allows production of high-resolution, three-dimensional maps of the longitudinal elastic modulus of materials. Brillouin spectroscopy has been widely used for material testing and environmental sensing. In the past two decades, a new type of spectrometer has improved the speed of acquisition to enable biological applications. The Brillouin technology developed in this project can be further sped up by multiplexing the readout to many points simultaneously. This multiplexed Brillouin microscopy expands the types of potential applications of the technology.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.