Descrizione del progetto
Trasformare la ricerca sugli organoidi
Gli organoidi sono minuscole colture tissutali tridimensionali che derivano da cellule staminali. Svolgono un importante ruolo nella medicina personalizzata e nella scoperta farmacologica. Tuttavia, non è stato realizzato uno strumento che possa facilitare la visualizzazione degli organoidi in tempo reale. Affrontando questo problema, il progetto OrganVision, finanziato dall’UE, si propone di creare una tecnologia di elaborazione delle immagini in tempo reale, ad alta risoluzione e senza marcature per la ricerca sugli organoidi e l’esplorazione di nuove opportunità in questo campo. Il progetto mostrerà il funzionamento di ogni singola cellula in tempo reale all’interno di un muscolo cardiaco ingegnerizzato, svelando in che modo può essere condizionata da stress e altri fattori.
Obiettivo
OrganVision is a revolutionary technology proposition that will break new grounds in microscopy and develop an ideal imaging solution for organoid research. It will enable life scientists to visualize life unfolding in real-time inside the cells and tissue in an organ-mimicking living tissue environment (called organoid here). It will alter the paradigm in microscopy by converting the central obstacle of light scattering by thick samples into the central opportunity that enables 3D label-free imaging on organoids in real-time with sub-cellular (~200 nm) and inter-cellular resolution (~1 um) at speeds of >1 volume per second (cube of 100 um). For achieving this unprecedented feat, OrganVision will develop a new multi-physics solver that solves transport of intensity (ToI) and full wave electromagnetic (FWEM) models in a coupled manner. ToI provides 3D image with inter-cellular resolution and generates intensity distribution inside the sample. FWEM uses this intensity distribution to decode the near-field light interaction between the sub-cellular entities for generating 3D sub-cellular image. A novel microscope instrument delivers custom designed 3D illumination patterns at the speed of 200 patterns per second in order to solve the problem of ill-posedness encountered by these solvers. In order to exploit the opportunity thus created, OrganVision will develop an a computational model that models the dynamics and interactions of functional entities recorded by OrganVision imaging solution in order to identify the underlying mechanisms. The proof-of-concept will be shown on engineered heart tissue for real-time imaging of cell and tissue activity towards studying injury, repair and regeneration in heart muscle. OrganVision will transform microscopy from a visualization device to a knowledge discovery tool that will change the course of organoid research forever. We believe that OrganVision will lead to better understanding and faster therapy for several diseases.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
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H2020-FETOPEN-2018-2019-2020-01
Meccanismo di finanziamento
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinatore
9019 Tromso
Norvegia