Next Generation Quantitative Acoustic Microscopy for Biomedical Application

滨江研究、布里斯托大学（联合王国布里斯托）和保罗·萨巴蒂尔大学（图卢兹， 法国）提出开发下一代定量声学显微镜（QAM）系统。具体来说，数据- 科学和编码激励方法将首次应用于QAM技术，以产生更好的图像 质量，减少扫描时间，更容易使用，以及铺平道路，为新一代的新颖，低成本， 用户友好的QAM仪器。QAM允许形成精细分辨率（即，<7 µm（250 MHz） 厚度<12 µm的组织切片的力学性能。这些数据可以在许多方面具有很大的价值。 临床前研究。这种特性图目前不能通过任何其他显微成像方式获得， 而新一代QAM技术的成功，在这个拟议的项目可能成为 广泛应用于商业和学术研究环境中的研究实验室和显微镜套件。 这种新一代QAM仪器可以由QAM知识有限的技术人员使用，在许多情况下， 无论如何，它们的使用不会比使用传统的明场显微镜更复杂。这些新颖 QAM的方法将使用现有的分辨率目标、体模和生物组织来演示 （来自近视豚鼠模型和癌性人类淋巴结的眼部组织样本）。在此过程中， 项目，最佳的方法将被纳入一个原型QAM（pQAM）仪器能够产生超细 空间分辨率（< 2 µm）成像速度更快（<1分钟），成本更低（<4万美元） QAM系统。此外，pQAM的使用将是“交钥匙”的（即，不需要任何技术知识， 培训。）

Riverside Research, the University of Bristol (Bristol, United Kingdom), and the University Paul Sabatier (Toulouse, France) propose to develop the next generation of quantitative acoustic microscopy (QAM) systems. Specifically, data- science and coded-excitation approaches will be applied for the first time to QAM technology to yield better image quality, decreased scanning time, greater ease of use, as well as to pave the way for a new generation of novel, low-cost, user-friendly QAM instruments. QAM permits formation of fine-resolution (i.e., <7 µm at 250 MHz) maps of acoustic and mechanical properties of tissue sections that are <12 µm in thickness. These data can have great value in numerous preclinical investigations. Such property maps are not currently obtainable by any other microscopic-imaging modality, and the new generation of QAM technology made possible by success in this proposed project could become widespread in research laboratories and microscopy suites in commercial as well as academic research environments. Such new-generation QAM instruments could be used by technicians with limited knowledge of QAM and, in many ways, their use would be no more complicated than use of a conventional bright-field microscope. These novel approaches to QAM will be demonstrated using already available resolution targets, phantoms, and biological tissues (ocular-tissue samples from a guinea-pig model of myopia and cancerous human lymph nodes). During the course of this project, optimal methods will be incorporated in a prototype QAM (pQAM) instrument capable of producing ultra-fine spatial resolution (< 2 µm) images much faster (<1 min) and for a much lower cost (<$40k) than current state-of-the-art QAM systems. In addition, pQAM use will be ``turn-key'' (i.e., requiring no technical knowledge and less than 1 hour of training.)