Single-Cell Biophysics: Measurement, Modulation, and Modeling

Single-Cell Biophysics: Measurement, Modulation, and Modeling

Saturday Speaker Abstracts

The Multi-resolution Imaging Approach to Nano-Bio Interactions at the Single-Cell Level Haw Yang . Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA. Nano materials hold great promise for fundamental biological research as well as biomedical applications. Mechanistic understandings for the nano materials actions, however, is often challenging due to the inhomogeneity in the nano materials themselves, and also to the complexity of biological media such as serum or live cells. Studying nano-bio interactions in real time at the single-particle level, in principle, should alleviate some of the difficulties and could bring about new insights that are unavailable otherwise. In this report, we will discuss some new tools that are being developed, e.g., 3D multi-resolution imaging, and their implications in future applications. Specifically, 3D multi-resolution imaging is achieved by combining real-time 3D single-particle tracking and 2-photon confocal microscopy to achieve 10 nm localization precision in all XYZ directions and 10 microsecond time resolution in the context of the sectioning confocal microscopy. This new approach has afforded the visualization of a single virus-like particle moving through the 3D space, finding a live call, landing on the cell, and eventually leaving the cell surface. Moreover, it enables tracing out cellular anatomy in 3D fidelity with a resolution commensurate with that of 2D electron microscopy, which can only operate on microtomed, fixed cells. We will also discuss some of the new developments following intra-cellular dynamics and trafficking.

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