Scientists from Group of Optics and Photonics of the engineering faculty at the University of Nottingham have developed a new technique that allows them to see inside living cells at a scale which previously could not be achieved without damage them. This is due to the use of sound rather than light, a technique that overcomes current limitations which are microscopic recording.
The new technique can be described as highly specialized ultrasound. High frequency sound waves travel through the machine sample until hitting into an obstacle, and reflect. Then, they reflected waves are collected probe and analyzed, and the time it took the sound wave to travel back to the probe is used to calculate the distance of the obstacle which crashed, and data used to create a 3D image of the sample .
Observation of the interior of living cells, the sound offers significant benefits compared to light because the photons of light rays with a short wavelength in itself have so much energy that ultimately compromise the sample to be tested. The sound does not have these restrictions because it has little power even at extremely short wavelengths. Also, optical imaging at high resolution using colors that are often toxic and affect the living cells to be tested.
Ultrasound does not damage the cells, nor require toxic chemicals to function so that permits observation of the inside of cells one day could be sent back to the body, such as in stem cell transplantation.
Possibility to see inside the cells then again they returned to their biological "host" can lead to the creation of new treatments for diseases such as cancer, to enable the creation of more realistic synthetic organs, so maybe one day help us better to understand the aging process.
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