SYDNEY, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and Australian researchers have developed a groundbreaking imaging technology that could transform the study of cellular processes and provide insights into diseases such as cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, and metabolic conditions.
Published recently in Nature Communications, the study introduced an innovative approach that combines super-resolution imaging with artificial intelligence and deep learning to reveal subcellular structures and dynamics.
"It's like taking an aeroplane over a city at night and watching all the live interactions," said Jin Dayong, a professor at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), who led the project with researchers from Peking University and Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo in east China's Zhejiang Province.
"This cutting-edge technology will open new doors in the quest to understand the intricate world within our cells," Jin said, adding many diseases and health conditions arise from problems within cells.
Traditional imaging tools, like fluorescence microscopy, face limitations in resolution and can cause phototoxicity and photobleaching, damaging cells through light exposure, he said, adding they also struggle to visualize multiple structures simultaneously due to color restrictions.
The new method overcomes these challenges by using a single laser and dye label, accurately predicting 15 different subcellular structures with just two detection channels, which speeds up imaging and reduces cellular damage, while producing high-resolution "optical fingerprints" of organelles, or cell compartments, said Jin, also director of the UTS Institute for Biomedical Materials & Devices.
Highly adaptable, the technology works across different microscopes, cell types, and even complex living tissues, allowing scientists to examine the 3D structure of live cells during cell division and observe rapid interactions among intracellular compartments, according to the study.
Jin's team is collaborating with medical research institutes, including scientists investigating cardiomyocytes to advance heart disease research, and hopes this breakthrough will lead to new insights and advances in medical research, it said.
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