Intrinsic biophysical cell properties hold an enormous potential for cell class and state classification in microfluidics, allowing to avoid the need of cost intensive fluorescence labelling. Several methods can accomplish cell identification, while convolutional neural networks show an outstanding performance compared to other state-of-the-art classification methods, regarding accuracy and speed. In fact, neural networks show high performance for known image class prediction but struggles when unknown (out of distribution) image classes need to be identified. In such a scenario no prior knowledge of the unknown cell class can be used for the model training, which inevitably results in image misclassification. In fact, to distinguish unknown cell classes, a neural network must first construct an in-distribution of known images to afterwards detect out of distribution as unknowns, which is also called open-set classification assumption. Ones, a new cell class is identified, the neural network can be retrained with the obtained knowledge to dynamically update its cell class database. This process can be simply repeated for each new detected cell class. We applied this open-set idea to scattering pattern snapshots of different classes of living cells obtained in microfluidics. Our outcome shows a proof-of-concept for open-set based convolutional neural network for cell image classification, which can be applied to a wide range of single cell classification approaches to reduce uncertainty in machine learning based technologies.
In their native environment cells are constantly exposed to biochemical and biophysical signals that guide and regulate complex biological phenomena. Many of these signals impact on the adhesion properties of cells, which define cell morphology, cytoskeleton arrangements and the mechanical identity of cells. Adhesion signals are far from being static, but change in time and space according to specific programmes. Non-correct display of signals may result in catastrophic events. Yet, our understanding on the effects of the dynamics of signal presentation on cell functions and fates is very limited. Here we present our recent developments in the engineering of light-responsive platforms to enable the dynamic presentation of patterns of adhesion signals whose features can be controlled in space and time. More specifically, by controlling the irradiation of azobenzene based substrates, surface topography can be altered in the time frame of few tens of seconds, allowing the formation of submicron features, i.e. a scale that interferes with focal adhesion formation. We show the potency of these substrates in stimulating individual cells with topographic patterns acting on different lengths and timescales. In particular we show how dynamic patterns rapidly alter cytoskeleton arrangements and cell mechanical properties. The development of platforms enabling dynamic signal display would provide valuable insights into cell-biophysical signal interactions and, more specifically, into mechanotransduction-related phenomena. This could pave the way towards the development of novel systems to mimic more closely physiologic or pathologic extracellular environments for in vitro cell stimulation.
We investigated subclasses of living peripheral blood cells in a microfluidic-based system, with the aim to characterize their morphometric and optical properties, and to track their position in flow in a label-free modality. We employed two coherent imaging techniques: a scattering approach of precisely aligned single cells, and a digital holography approach to achieve optical cell reconstructions in flow. Cells were first 3D-aligned in round shaped capillary and subsequently measured in a following square shaped channel. Results were obtained at two fixed measurement positions, the first one was chosen close to the entrance of the measurement channel to ensure 3D cell alignment for scattering investigations; the second was placed 15 mm after to study additional cell properties by digital holography and to investigate possible variations of axial cell positions. First, the refractive index, ratio of the nucleus over cytoplasm, and cell dimension were investigated from scattering investigations. Further quantitative phase-contrast reconstructions by digital holography were employed to calculate surface area, dry mass, biovolume and positions of cells using the scattering outcomes as input parameters. The precise cell alignment at the first measurement position could be confirmed. At the second measurement position a full label-free characterization of cell classes in distinct vertical positions was realized and supported by applied microfluidic force calculations, which can be used to align, deform and/or separate cells. Our results confirm the possibility to differentiate cell classes in flow, thus avoiding chemical cell staining or labeling, which are nowadays used.
Cell of human blood stream are divided into two groups: Red Blood Cells (RBC) and White Blood Cells (WBC). RBC have a peculiar biconcave disk shape and they are responsible for the delivering of O2 and CO2 through the body. WBC are a more widespread class of cell ensuring immunity against pathogens. They can be divided in two main classes: granulocyte cells and A-granulocyte cells. Neutrophils, basophils and eosinophils belong to the granulocyte cell class, while lymphocytes and monocytes belong to A-granulocyte. Both in RBC and WBC, the intrinsic physical properties of a cell are indicators of cell condition and, furthermore, of the overall human body state. Thus, the accurate comprehension of the physiological structure of WBCs is fundamental to recognize diseases. Here we show the possibility to simple and straightforwardly characterize the physical properties of individual RBC and mononuclear WBC in a microfluidic context, using a wide angle light scattering apparatus and a corresponding theoretical simulation of Optical Signature (OS). A non-Newtonian polymer alignment solution for cell is used to ensure an individual cell alignment in the microfluidic flow, thus permitting a precise investigation. Additionally, Quantitative Phase Imaging (QPI) holographic measurements are performed to estimate cell morphometric features, such as their refractive index. We analyzed more than 200 WBCs and 100 RBCs of three different probands. Results showed distinct cell populations according to their measured dimensions and shape, which can be associated to the presence of RBC, lymphocytes and monocytes.
Full morphometric data analysis and 3D rendering of Red Blood Cells (RBCs) is provided by means of Digital Holography (DH) in combination with Optical Tweezers (OT). The proposed method is compared with a geometrical model of RBC in order to evaluate its accuracy and tested for many kinds of RBCs, from healthy ones with double-concavity to that with abnormal shapes. Applications in diagnostics are foreseen.
Digital Holography (DH) in microscopy allows to retrieve in an accurate way the spatial coordinates of multiple moving particles, performing 3D tracking of the sample in the entire field of view. In particular, a posteriori quantitative multifocus phase-contrast imaging, suitable for 3D tracking of micro-objects, is one of the main features of the holographic approach. However, classical methods need to decouple amplitude and phase contributions of the reconstructed complex wavefronts to calculate target positions in 3D, due to the fact that the lateral displacements can be calculated only after refocusing step. In order to overcome this limitation, recently, a novel method of the simultaneous calculation of both axial and lateral coordinates of moving particles has been proposed. This is based on the novel concept of wavefronts matching, i.e. the 3D positions of micro-object, moving in 3D volume, are obtained by aligning wo subsequent holographic complex reconstructions, calculated at the same distance. We test this approach in different experimental conditions in order to highlight its effectiveness in bio-microfluidic applications.
In the present paper, Holographic Optical Tweezers (HOT) is employed to trap and manage functionalized micrometric latex beads with the aim at probing cellular forces in no-adherent state. For the first time at best of our knowledge, a suspended cell, subjected to mechanical stress, structures its cytoskeleton when anchored to point-like bonds. We exploit the HOT arrangement to induce mechanical deformation in suspended NIH 3T3 fibroblast. Our investigation is devoted to understand the inner cell mechanism when it is mechanically stressed by point-like stimulus without the substrate influence. In our experiment, cell adhesion is prevented and the stimulus is applied through latex beads trapped by HOT and positioned externally to the cell membrane. Our aims are devoted to analyze cell response during the transition from an homogeneous and isotropic structure (as it’s in suspension) to a mechanically stressed state. To analyze the cell material interaction we combine the HOT arrangement with two imaging systems: a Digital Holography (DH) setup in microscope configuration that is an investigation method useful for quantitative, label-free and full-field analysis of low contrast object and a fluorescence modulus. HOT are exploited to induce cellular response to specific stimuli while DH allows to measure such responses in no-invasive way. Finally, fluorescence imaging is added to discriminate the inner cell structures.
KEYWORDS: Digital holography, Holograms, 3D image reconstruction, Microscopes, Digital recording, Holography, Denoising, Digital imaging, Particles, Phase retrieval
Sparsity properties of digital holograms have been investigated for application in compressive holography, permitting the discovery of the sparsest reconstruction plane in which the recovery of digital holograms is suitable. Recent approaches for denoising and phase retrieval are also proposed exploiting the sparsity properties of digital holograms. Thus it can be shown a strong correlation between holograms sparsity and focal plane detection, making a sparsity measure coefficient as a candidate to be used for focus plane calculation. Here we implement different sparsity metrics, that are able to measure a degree of sparsity of reconstructed digital hologram and we investigate their relation with the automatic focusing criterions, highlighting the possibility to use a sparsity measure as refocusing metric as well as the contrary, i.e. using image contrast coefficients as sparsity measures. Our analysis will be reported for digital holograms recorded in both lensless and microscope configuration and for both amplitude and pure-phase objects.
The Light Scattering Profile (LSP) of an individual cell provides a fast and accurate characterization of its morphological properties. By combining a camera-based small angle light scattering apparatus with a microfluidic-induced particle migration technique, it is possible to characterize cells in microfluidic flows. The scattering profile of an individual cell can be fully characterized by our optimized optical light collection system. Viscoelastic-induced particle migration by polyethylene oxide implemented in a low-cost microfluidic device composed of an alignment section and a measuring section opens the possibility of precise, label-free, individual cell analysis. We have studied living cells in microfluidic flows by our light scattering apparatus and by a Digital Holographic Microscope (DHM) system. Our DHM measurements provided an accurate 3D position tracking even in multiple cell conditions.
Blood borne oligonucleotides fragments contain useful clinical information whose detection and monitoring represent the new frontier in liquid biopsy as they can transform the current diagnosis procedure. For instance, recent studies have identified a new class of circulating biomarkers such as s miRNAs, and demonstrated that changes in their concentration are closely associated with the development of cancer and other pathologies. However, direct detection of miRNAs in body fluids is particularly challenging and demands high sensitivity -concentration range between atto to femtomolarspecificity, and multiplexing Here we report on engineered multifunctional microgels and innovative probe design for a direct and multiplex detection of relevant clinical miRNAs in fluorescence by single particle assay. Polyethyleneglycol-based microgels have a coreshell architecture with two spectrally encoded fluorescent dyes for multiplex analyses and are endowed with fluorescent probes for miRNA detection. Encoding and detection fluorescence signals are distinguishable by not overlapping emission spectra. Tuneable fluorescence probe conjugation and corresponding emission confinement on single microgel allows for enhanced target detection. Such suspension array has indeed high selectivity and sensitivity with a detection limit of 10-15 M and a dynamic range from 10-9 to 10-15 M. We believe that sensitivity in the fM concentration range, signal background minimization, multiplexed capability and direct measurement of such microgels will translate into diagnostic benefits opening up new roots toward liquid biopsy in the context of point-of-care testing through an easy and fast detection of sensitive diagnostic biomarkers directly in serum.
In humans, healthy mature erythrocytes or Red Blood Cells (RBCs) have globule structure and mostly important they lack a cell nucleus and most organelles, thus RBC is an envelope filled of uniform and transparent liquid. Abnormal RBCs may be fragmented or shaped like teardrops, crescents, needles, or a variety of other forms deviating from their regular ordinary shape. Here we show that seeing an erythrocyte-ensemble as nanolens-array, detection of abnormal cells can be made rapidly and efficiently without recurring to subjective shape analysis of image by the doctor or by sophisticated image processing tools, but rather by exploiting their abnormal shape alterations affecting the lens-focusing properties. Demonstration of how aberrations affect the focusing properties of the RBC is given by Hartmann- Shack approach and Zernike polynomial-fitting, as occurs for wavefront aberration correction in adaptive modern astronomic telescopes. The results show how the concept of biological lens could be addressed for revolutionary integration between photonics and biology and that a fast blood pre-screening can be performed by the proposed approach.
Azopolymer materials belong to family special materials, which are subject to photo-isomerization when illuminated by appropriate light wavelength. Optical characterization of azopolymer materials is interesting because they can be patterned when illuminated by coherent polarized light with potentially interesting applications in the biotechnology, photonic elements, molding templates, etch masks and micro-nanochannels. The interference lithography is an excellent tool to trigger the isomerization reaction on the material. During this work, switchable patterns were fabricated by means of a well established holographic set-up: surface relief gratings (SRGs) were realized with Lloyd’s mirror system. Moreover, optical characterization of the material was performed, starting from a commercial one and using a new way to analyse SRGs by means of Digital Holography Microscopy, to determine relevant parameters for the realization of the patterns with different shape and size. Some preliminary results of the influence of such patterns on the cell behavior were shown.
Current advances in nanotechnology hold the promises to greatly impact on current medical practice. Since nanometric materials interact with cells, tissue and organs at a molecular level, they may be used as probes for ultrasensitive molecular sensing and diagnostic imaging or carriers for drug and gene delivery. However, along with the excitement that has driven the development of novel nanocarriers, there have been increasing concerns regarding the risks these materials may generate. As these nanostructures are intentionally engineered to target specific cells or tissues, it is imperative to ensure their safety. The optimal design of safe and functional nanocarriers for medicine requires a better understanding of the interaction between the physical-chemistry properties of the nanoparticle surface with the complex protein machinery existing at the cell membrane. In particular the effect of the particles properties (charge, shape, protein coating) on the mechanism of cellular uptake is highly relevant both to assess the real biological risks coupled with the use of nanomaterial (nanopathology and nanotoxicology) and to engineer carriers able to improve the medical practice. The nanometric size and the surface molecular decoration may activate mechanisms of cellular uptake different from those commonly used by cells: these open the possibility to activated/modulated the membrane crossing by tuning chemical-physical properties of nanometric materials. In this work, the design and production of novel degradable polymeric nanocavities via layer-by-layer and temperature induced phase separation technology will be presented along with a detailed characterization of their in vitro performances. Furthermore, possible mechanisms of cellular uptake will be discussed and critically presented. The effect of surface bioconjugation on cell membrane crossing will be exploited and elucidated. Particular attention will be devoted to surface molecular decoration able to guide the nanoparticle throughout the cytosol.
Digital Holography (DH) numerical procedures have been developed to allow imaging through turbid media. A fluid is considered turbid when dispersed particles provoke strong light scattering, thus destroying the image formation by any standard optical system. Here we show that sharp amplitude imaging and phase-contrast mapping of object hidden behind turbid medium and/or occluding objects are possible in harsh noise conditions and with a large field-of view by Multi-Look DH microscopy. In particular, it will be shown that both amplitude imaging and phase-contrast mapping of cells hidden behind a flow of Red Blood Cells can be obtained. This allows, in a noninvasive way, the quantitative evaluation of living processes in Lab on Chip platforms where conventional microscopy techniques fail. The combination of this technique with endoscopic imaging can pave the way for the holographic blood vessel inspection, e.g. to look for settled cholesterol plaques as well as blood clots for a rapid diagnostics of blood diseases.
Quantitative imaging and three dimensional (3D) morphometric analysis of flowing and not-adherent cells is an important aspect for diagnostic purposes at Lab on Chip scale. Diagnostics tools need to be quantitative, label-free and, as much as possible, accurate. In recent years digital holography (DH) has been improved to be considered as suitable diagnostic method in several research field. In this paper we demonstrate that DH can be used for retrieving 3D morphometric data for sorting and diagnosis aims. Several techniques exist for 3D morphological study as optical coherent tomography and confocal microscopy, but they are not the best choice in case of dynamic events as flowing samples. Recently, a DH approach, based on shape from silhouette algorithm (SFS), has been developed for 3D shape display and calculation of cells biovolume. Such approach, adopted in combination with holographic optical tweezers (HOT) was successfully applied to cells with convex shape. Unfortunately, it’s limited to cells with convex surface as sperm cells or diatoms. Here, we demonstrate an improvement of such procedure. By decoupling thickness information from refractive index ones and combining this with SFS analysis, 3D shape of concave cells is obtained. Specifically, the topography contour map is computed and used to adjust the 3D shape retrieved by the SFS algorithm. We prove the new procedure for healthy red blood cells having a concave surface in their central region. Experimental results are compared with theoretical model.
Guiding, controlling and studying cellular functions are challenging themes in the biomedical field, as they are fundamental prerequisites for new therapeutic strategies from tissue regeneration to controlled drug delivery. In recent years, multidisciplinary studies in nanotechnology offer new tools to investigate important biophysical phenomena in response to the local physical characteristics of the extracellular environment, some examples are the mechanisms of cell adhesion, migration, communication and differentiation. Indeed for reproducing the features of the extracellular matrix in vitro, it is essential to develop active devices that evoke as much as possible the natural cellular environment. Our investigation is in the framework of studying and clarifying the biophysical mechanisms of the interaction between cells and the microenvironment in which they exist. We implement an optical tweezers setup to investigate cell material interaction and we use Digital Holography as non-invasive imaging technique in microscopy. We exploit Holographic Optical Tweezers arrangement in order to trap and manage functionalized micrometric latex beads to induce mechanical deformation in suspended cells. A lot of papers in literature examine the dynamics of the cytoskeleton when cells adhere on substrates and nowadays well established cell models are based on such research activities. Actually, the natural cell environment is made of a complex extracellular matrix and the single cell behavior is due to intricate interactions with the environment and are strongly correlated to the cell-cell interactions. Our investigation is devoted to understand the inner cell mechanism when it is mechanically stressed by point-like stimulus without the substrate influence.
KEYWORDS: Biological research, Digital holography, Microfluidics, 3D metrology, Head, In vitro testing, Holograms, Optical tweezers, Microscopy, 3D modeling
For the monitoring of biological samples, physical parameters such as size, shape and refractive index are of crucial importance. However, up to now the morphological in-vitro analysis of in-vitro cells has been limited to 2D analysis by classical optical microscopy such as phase-contrast or DIC. Here we show an approach that exploits the capability of optical tweezers to trap and put in self-rotation bovine spermatozoa flowing into a microfluidic channel. At same time, digital holographic microscopy allows to image the cell in phase-contrast modality for each different angular position, during the rotation. From the collected information about the cell’s phase-contrast signature, we demonstrate that it is possible to reconstruct the 3D shape of the cell and estimate its volume. The method can open new pathways for rapid measurement of in-vitro cells volume in microfluidic lab-on-a-chip platform, thus having access to 3D shape of the object avoiding tomography microscopy, that is an overwhelmed and very complex approach for measuring 3D shape and biovolume estimation.
A method for 3D tracking has been developed exploiting Digital Holography features in Microscopy (DHM). In the framework of self-consistent platform for manipulation and measurement of biological specimen we use DHM for quantitative and completely label free analysis of samples with low amplitude contrast. Tracking capability extend the potentiality of DHM allowing to monitor the motion of appropriate probes and correlate it with sample properties. Complete 3D tracking has been obtained for the probes avoiding the amplitude refocusing in traditional tracking processes. Moreover, in biology and biomedical research fields one of the main topic is the understanding of morphology and mechanics of cells and microorganisms. Biological samples present low amplitude contrast that limits the information that can be retrieved through optical bright-field microscope measurements. The main effect on light propagating in such objects is in phase. This is known as phase-retardation or phase-shift. DHM is an innovative and alternative approach in microscopy, it’s a good candidate for no-invasive and complete specimen analysis because its main characteristic is the possibility to discern between intensity and phase information performing quantitative mapping of the Optical Path Length. In this paper, the flexibility of DH is employed to analyze cell mechanics of unstained cells subjected to appropriate stimuli. DHM is used to measure all the parameters useful to understand the deformations induced by external and controlled stresses on in-vitro cells. Our configuration allows 3D tracking of micro-particles and, simultaneously, furnish quantitative phase-contrast maps. Experimental results are presented and discussed for in vitro cells.
We present the possibility to trap cells (mouse fibroblasts, bovine spermatozoa and diatoms), to manage their position and to induce rotation, by using optical tweezers. The aim is to place them in desired positions, in order to record holographic images in a microscope configuration. Then we are able to recover the 3D shape and to calculate the biovolume of the cells starting from the reconstructed quantitative phase maps (QPMs).
In this study we realized a three-dimensional human dermis equivalent (3D-HDE) and, by exploiting multi-photon microscopy (MPM) we validated its use as an in vitro model to study collagen network re-arrangement under simulated solar exposure. The realization of 3D-HDE has been pursed by means of a bottom-up tissue engineering strategy that comprises firstly the fabrication of micron sized tissue building blocks and then their assembly in a 3D tissue construct. The building blocks injected in a maturation chamber, and cultured under optimized culture condition, were able to fuse due to the establishment of cell-cell and cell-extra cellular matrix (ECM) interactions that induced a biological sintering process resulting in 3D-HDE production. The final 3D tissue was made-up by fibroblasts embedded in their own ECM rich in endogenous collagen type I, resembling the composition and the architecture of native human dermis. Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) and Two-Photon Excited Fluorescence (TPEF) imaging have been exploited to assess modification in collagen assembly before and after UV irradiation. Textural features and SHG to TPFE ratio of the endogenous ECM within 3D-HDE have been shown to vary after UVA irradiation, proving the hypothesis that the 3DHDE realized can be used as biological platform in vitro to study ECM modifications induced by photo-damage.
A CCD-camera based small angle light scattering (SALS) apparatus has been used to characterize single micrometric particles flowing in a micro-channel. The measured scattering vector spans the range 2x10-2 - 6:8x101μm-1. The incident laser light is collimated to a spot of about 50 μm in diameter at the sample position with a divergence lower than 0.045 rad. Such small collimated laser beam opens the possibility to perform on-line SALS of micron-sized particles flowing in micro-channels. By properly designing the micro-channel and using a viscoelastic liquid as suspending medium we are able to realize a precise 3D focusing of the target particles. The forward scattering emitted from the particle is collected by a lens with high numerical aperture. At the focal point of that lens a homemade beam stop is blocking the incident light. Finally, a second lens maps the scattered light on the CCD sensor, allowing to obtain far field images on short distances. Measurements with mono-disperse polystyrene particles, both in quiescent and in-flow conditions have been realized. Experiments in-flow allow to measure the single particle scattering. Results are validated by comparison with calculations based on the Lorenz-Mie theory. The quality of the measured intensity profiles confirms the possibility to use our apparatus in real multiplex applications, with particles down to 1 μm in radius.
We propose a new strategy of three-dimensional (3D) tracking of living cells by digital holographic microscopy based on the morphological changes of cells during the migration. The typical strategy adopted in digital holography for the tracking of living cells consists into compute the 3D position dividing the calculation process into two parts: the estimation of the focal plane on the amplitude reconstruction of the digital holograms and the estimation of the transverse coordinates by the phase reconstruction of digital holograms computed at distance equal to the estimated focal plane. We propose to use an approximation of the Tamura coefficient, as image contrast measure, for the estimation of the focal plane and a new morphological operator, that is called minimum boundary filter (MBF), from which we compute the transverse coordinates. A comparison with other 3D tracking methods is accomplished.
We report the investigation of the identification and measurement of region of interest (ROI) in quantitative phase-contrast maps (QPMs) of biological cells by digital holographic microscopy (DHM), with the aim to analyze the 3D positions and 3D morphology together. We consider as test case for our tool the in vitro bull sperm head morphometry analysis. Extraction and measurement of various morphological parameters are performed by using two methods: the anisotropic diffusion filter, that is based on the Gaussian diffusivity function which allows more accuracy of the edge position, and the simple thresholding filter. In particular we consider the calculation of area, ellipticity, perimeter, major axis, minor axis and shape factor as a morphological parameter, instead, for the estimation of 3D position, we compute the centroid, the weighted centroid and the maximum phase values. A statistical analysis on a data set composed by N = 14 holograms relative to bovine spermatozoa and its reference holograms is reported.
A method for 3D tracking has been developed exploiting Digital Holographic Microscopy (DHM) features. In the framework of self-consistent platform for manipulation and measurement of biological specimen we use DHM for quantitative and completely label free analysis of specimen with low amplitude contrast. Tracking capability extend the potentiality of DHM allowing to monitor the motion of appropriate probes and correlate it with sample properties. Complete 3D tracking has been obtained for the probes avoiding the issue of amplitude refocusing in traditional tracking processing. Our technique belongs to the video tracking methods that, conversely from Quadrant Photo-Diode method, opens the possibility to track multiples probes. All the common used video tracking algorithms are based on the numerical analysis of amplitude images in the focus plane and the shift of the maxima in the image plane are measured after the application of an appropriate threshold. Our approach for video tracking uses different theoretical basis. A set of interferograms is recorded and the complex wavefields are managed numerically to obtain three dimensional displacements of the probes. The procedure works properly on an higher number of probes and independently from their size. This method overcomes the traditional video tracking issues as the inability to measure the axial movement and the choice of suitable threshold mask. The novel configuration allows 3D tracking of micro-particles and simultaneously can furnish Quantitative Phase-contrast maps of tracked micro-objects by interference microscopy, without changing the configuration. In this paper, we show a new concept for a compact interferometric microscope that can ensure the multifunctionality, accomplishing accurate 3D tracking and quantitative phase-contrast analysis. Experimental results are presented and discussed for in vitro cells. Through a very simple and compact optical arrangement we show how two different functionalities can be accomplished by the same optical setup, i.e. 3D tracking of micro-object and quantitative phase contrast imaging.
In biology and biomedical research fields one of the main topic is the understanding of morphology and mechanics of cells and microorganisms. Biological samples present low amplitude contrast that limits the information that can be retrieved through optical bright-field microscope measurements. Optical transparency is overcame for fixed specimen by means of staining techniques but such well-established methods present the issue to be invasive and not applicable on live cells. Study of microorganism in their natural environment without perturbing their equilibrium is challenging in biology. The main effect on light propagating in such objects is in phase, indeed it is altered respect to the phase of the beam propagating in the surrounding medium. This is known as phase-retardation or phase-shift. Objects are visible by Phase Contrast Imaging (PCI) due to interferometric processes able to transform tiny phase variation in amplitude modulation so that any small differences in the beam optical path can be visualized. Digital Holography (DH) in microscopy present as a powerful tool to overcome all these issues. The main characteristic is the possibility to discern between intensity and phase information performing quantitative mapping of the Optical Path Length. Up to now, DH has been considered as an innovative and alternative approach in microscopy and it’s a good candidate for complete specimen analysis in the framework of no invasive microscopy. In this paper, the flexibility of DH is employed to analyze in a completely and no-invasive way the cell mechanics of live and unstained cell subjected to appropriate stimuli. The potentialities of DH are employed to measure all the parameters useful to understand the deformations induced by external and controlled stress in living cells.
We propose a sparsity-based denoising algorithm for digital holography retrieved wrapped phase maps (WPMs) mod 2π by using a modified version of the SPADEDH (SPArsity DEnoising of Digital Holograms) algorithm, proposed in [1].
We test the proposed method on both simulated wrapped phase reconstructions and experimental wrapped phase maps obtained by digital holograms of living cells. Finally, we also show that the proposed algorithm can be used as a helper for the typical local phase unwrapping algorithms.
We propose a new Iterative Fourier Transform Algorithm (IFTA) capable to suppress ghost traps and noise in
Holographic Optical Tweezers (HOT), maintaining a high diffraction efficiency in a computational time comparable
with the others iterative algorithms. The process consists in the planning of the suitable ideal target of optical tweezers as
input of classical IFTA and we show we are able to design up to 4 real traps, in the field of view imaged by the
microscope objective, using an IFTA built on fictitious phasors, located in strategic positions in the Fourier plane. The
effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is evaluated both for numerical and optical reconstructions and compared with
the other techniques known in literature.
Optical tweezers have become a widely used tool for manipulate microscopic objects. Combined with fast and high sensitive position detection techniques, they are suitable for microrheological measurements of viscous and viscoelastic media. Such measurements require the knowledge of absolute displacements of the trapped particles. Unfortunately position detection device need to be calibrated and several methods have been used and reported in literature. We report an accurate study of the behavior of the conversion factor in the case of the forward light scattering technique, based on an oil-immersion objective lens, which is commonly used in optical tweezers systems. We show how this fundamental parameter is strongly dependent on the distance of the trapped object from the coverslip surface.
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