Application of an ultra fast single photon camera for spatial imaging of fast cellular events

显微术的最新进展使活细胞的活动能够以前所未有的细节进行研究。这些进步包括荧光标记的发展，可用于标记细胞中的特定结构，化学信使和离子浓度，以及共聚焦显微镜等技术的发展，这些技术可以从显微镜图像中去除不需要的信息，如失焦模糊。许多细胞过程是由多种分子的协同活动引起的，如细胞膜上的离子通道、细胞骨架的成分和参与分泌和膜更新的分子。许多这些相互作用发生得非常快，在细胞的多个位置，在几毫秒或更短的时间尺度上。目前的显微镜技术通常不够快或不够灵敏，无法记录它们。相机和探测器技术的最新发展正在产生一代超快速和超灵敏的相机，这应该为非常快速的细胞事件成像提供急需的解决方案。本项目将采用这种相机在模型细胞系统中对快速亚细胞事件进行成像。将评估该技术在更广泛的显微镜应用中的潜在应用。

Recent advances in microscopy have enabled the activities of living cells to be studied with unprecedented detail. These advances include the development of fluorescent markers that can be used to label particular structures, chemical messengers and ion concentrations in cells, together with the development of techniques such as confocal microscopy that remove unwanted information such as out-of-focus blur from the microscope image. Many cellular processes result from the coordinated activity of a diverse array of molecules, such as ion channels in the cell membranes, the components of the cell's skeleton and molecules involved in secretion and membrane turnover. Many of these interactions occur very fast, in multiple locations in the cell and on time scales of milliseconds or less. Current microscopy techniques are generally not fast or sensitive enough to record them. Recent developments in camera and detector technology are producing a generation of ultra-fast and ultra-sensitive cameras that should provide much-needed solutions for imaging of very fast cellular events. This project will adapt such a camera for imaging of fast sub-cellular events in a model cellular system. The potential application of the technology to a wider range of microscopy applications will be assessed.