Evrim Yazgin
Cosmos science journalist
Images of an embryo have for the first time been taken using cameras designed for making quantum measurements.
Such techniques could be used to determine the success of treatments such as IVF.
The research published in the journal APL Photonics explains how physicists used quantitative fluorescence microscopy –a digital camera that can count individual packets of light energy (individual photons) at each pixel – to take the images.
Detecting photons is a vital part of capturing biological processes. All life produces photons. For example, the heat produced by a warm-blooded animal is the radiation of infrared wavelength photons.
The new research allows scientists to examine natural states of biological processes with very low doses of light.
“Damage from illumination is a real concern which can often be overlooked,” says lead author Kishan Dholakia from the University of Adelaide in Australia. “Using the lowest level of light possible, together with these very sensitive cameras is important for understanding biology in live and developing cells.”
Dholakia is the director of the university’s Centre of Light for Life.
“Modern imaging technology is very exciting with what it enables us to see,” he says.
The team imaged mouse embryos as part of a pre-clinical trial. They used the technology to see the faint signals produced by the embryos as their cells began to form a new living organism.
“These samples are living, developing specimens that serve as a foundation for studies supporting advancements in clinical IVF,” Dholakia says.
“A lot of natural compounds in cells light up when illuminated, and this can tell us a lot about what we’re looking at, but unfortunately the signal is very weak,” adds lead author Zane Peterkovic, a PhD student at the University of Adelaide. “It’s exciting to apply these quantum cameras and use it to get the most out of our microscopes.”
“A large part of the project involved developing a method to fairly compare the image quality across different cameras,” Peterkovic adds. “We even explored how AI can be used to remove noise from the captured images, which is essentially static because the camera struggles to capture enough light.”
The team hopes to delve deeper into quantum imaging. Identifying quantum states of light, for example, may give more information about living samples.
