Cancer Becomes Clearer With Lensless X-Ray Camera
A team of international scientists has developed a new type of x-ray camera which has no lens, yet is powerful enough to capture images of tiny nanoscale features inside biological cells.
The innovative device could help researchers gain a greater understanding of cancer by allowing them to view biological processes taking place inside whole human cells – something today’s microscopes can’t do without destroying the cell.
While electron microscopes already image on the nanometer scale, existing limitations in lens technology prevent the viewing of some internal cell structures unless the sample is sliced.
Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Melbourne, La Trobe University and the Australian Synchrotron collaborated to come up with the cutting edge technique so those lens limitations wouldn’t be a factor.
Using high-intensity x-ray beams created at Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source (APS), sophisticated computer algorithms and some protein tagging, the Aussie-American team generated high-resolution images of the nucleus and other structures buried inside cells. Their approach allowed them to clearly distinguish different internal cells structures without resorting to destructive slicing.
APS is the only facility in the US with the type of intense x-ray energies needed to conduct this type of microscopy. While the technique has many potential applications for the petrochemical and energy industries, the researchers are hopeful their lensless x-ray method will also contribute to medical research. As one APS scientist stated,
“We would eventually like to create a dedicated, permanent laboratory facility at the APS for this imaging technique that can be used by scientists on a routine basis.”
Qun Shen
X-ray Microscopy and Imaging Group Leader, APS
Additional information on the project is being published in the American Physical Society journal Physical Review Letters.
Source: Argonne National Laboratory Highlights
Related Links: lightsources.org; innovations-report.de
Related Podcast: IBM and the Future of Medical Imaging from HealthNex
Technorati Tags: cancer research; nanotechnology; nanomedicine; oncology; apoptosis; medical physics; National Science Foundation-funded; coherent diffraction
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