Microscopes are optical systems designed to see the invisible. More than a century ago, microscopes were first used to identify the first human pathogens, such as bacteria, or to visualize for the first time the information carriers of the cell (chromosomes). Recent decades have seen a revolution in microscope development. For instance, current microscopes enable the real-time visualization of the full process of embryogenesis, from egg fertilization to organism, or the reconstruction of molecular structures within single cells with incredible specificity and resolution. Despite these advances, a main drawback has been the visualization of rapid intracellular dynamics and of large numbers of cells at high-resolution in 3D. The project InstantScope developed new methods to address these shortcomings.
The microscope prototype developed by InstantScope (called Hi2M) allows for the 3D instantaneous imaging of intracellular cell dynamics, and when combined with a microfluidics plugin device, it enables the visualization of a large number of single cells in 3D, and at high resolution. To do so, the InstantScope team worked in the design, construction and validation of key components of the Hi2M microscope to increase the detection efficiency and augment the number of biological objects that can be imaged. In addition, we improved construction procedures to facilitate production of custom-made components, and explored avenues for future commercialization that are currently being evaluated.
We envision that, in future, the ability of the technologies developed by InstantScope to detect a large number of cells in 3D with high resolution will be key to implement an apparatus able to detect only a few abnormal cells in a population of millions of normal cells. These abilities will be fundamental for the early detection of disease, such as cancer.
