Single-Cell Biophysics: Measurement, Modulation, and Modeling
Saturday Speaker Abstracts
16
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.