The researchers at the University of Adelaida have made the first image of embryos using cameras designed for quantum measurements.
The academics of the Luz Center for the Life of the University investigated how to use ultrasensible chamber technology, including the latest generation of cameras that can count individual packages of light energy in each pixel, for life sciences.
The center’s director, Professor Kishan Dholakia, said that the sensitive detection of these light energy packages, called photons, is vital to capture biological processes in their natural researchers that illuminate living cells with soft doses of light.
“The damage to lighting is a real concern that can often be overlooked. Using the lowest possible level, along with these very sensitive cameras is important to understand biology in living and developing cells,” said Professor Dholakia.
“Modern image technology is very exciting with what allows us to see.”
The Research Team, Which Also Included Zane Peterkovic, Dr Avinast The Technology to Image Embryos As part of a pre-clinical trial, and published their findings in APPL: photonics.
“These samples live, developing samples that serve as the basis for studies that support advances in clinical IVF,” said Professor Dholakia.
Digital camera technology has advanced to the point where the concepts of fundamental physics such as quantum mechanics become important and relevant, said the main author and doctoral student, Mr. Peterkovic.
“Many natural compounds in the cells light up when they light up, and this can tell us a lot about what we are seeing, but unfortunately the signal is very weak,” he said.
“It is exciting to apply these quantum chambers and use it to make the most of our microscopes.
“A large part of the project meant developing a method to fairly compare image quality in different cameras.”
The analysis of the images was enabled by a combination of experience that goes from optics, biology, laser physics and microscopy.
“We even explore how AI can be used to eliminate the noise of the captured images, which is essentially static because the camera struggles to capture enough light,” Peterkovic said.
“These steps go beyond simply putting the camera in the microscope to take photos.”
Future instructions for this work include the extension in the field of quantum images, where the quantum states of light can be used to obtain more information about the sample.
Funds were received from this project of the Australian Research Council.