Project description
Highest-resolution mechano-sensitive microscope for regenerative medicine
Advancements in microscopy have improved imaging capabilities but often neglect mechanical properties. Mechano-sensitive microscopy has revealed that local stiffness and viscoelasticity play crucial roles in cellular development. This raises important questions about differentiation processes and optimising artificial tissue growth in regenerative medicine, exposing the limitations of current tools. The ERC-funded LiBriNa project aims to address this by developing a label-free microscopy technique capable of imaging viscoelasticity at sub-diffraction resolution in living cardiac tissues, with acquisition speeds far exceeding existing methods. This breakthrough relies on a novel optical element for rapid, high-sensitivity hyperspectral imaging. By integrating advancements in nanoscopy, light-sheet imaging, and Brillouin scattering, Lightsheet Brillouin Nanoscopy (LiBriNa) is expected to become the fastest and highest-resolution mechano-sensitive microscope.
Objective
Better microscopes have always triggered scientific discovery. Lightsheet microscopy and nanoscopy are no exception and have initiated knowledge jumps in structural and dynamical imaging. However, they do not inform us on mechanical properties. The domain of mechano-sensitive microscopy is still in its infancy yet has already unveiled a stark dependence of cellular development on local stiffness and viscoelasticity. For instance, coordinated strain on the sub-millimetre scale is a key ingredient to grow induced pluripotent stem stells into a beating adult cardiac muscle; without such an environment, a twitching heap of cardiomyocytes develops instead. What are the processes within cells that cause this forked differentiation? How can we optimise the growth of artificial tissue in regenerative medicine? Given the dynamics and 3D nature of the problem, paired with the requirement of sub-cellular resolution, one must conclude that our current instrumentation is not up to the task. Thus, this project aims to develop a label-free microscopy technique that can image viscoelasticity at unprecedented sub-diffraction resolution inside living, differentiating cardiac tissues at order-of-magnitude faster acquisition speeds than previously possible. This will be made possible by a completely new type of optical element that allows snap-shot hyperspectral imaging at unparalleled speed and sensitivity. Transforming latest innovations within nanoscopy and lightsheet imaging and using Brillouin scattering as a proxy for viscoelastic tissue properties on the microscale, Lightsheet Brillouin Nanoscopy (LiBriNa), will be the fastest, most gentle, and highest resolution mechanosensitive microscope ever built. Besides being an enabler technology for cellular biology and regenerative medicine, the project will explore new principles in label-free nanoscopy methodology and initiate innovation jumps in optical instrumentation.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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(opens in new window) ERC-2024-STG
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9019 Tromso
Norway
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