Establishment of a 3D Cellular Structure Database

Description

The understanding of dynamic structure and function of human cells is of fundamental importance to biomedical research. Most human cells are microscopic with complex-structured organelles bounded by the cell membrane. In this project, we aim at develop a significant database on the #D structure of biological cells using the confocal microscopy technique. The motivation for construction of such a database relates to the striking paucity of archival publications on the 3D distribution of complex optical index inside cells. This project consists of two parts with the first step to establish a database of 3D cellular structures with detailed morphology information on the nuclei and mitochondria followed by the second step to find accurate information on the refractive indices of these intracellular components with the flow cytometric and goniometric measurements. We also plan to collaborate with other researchers on combining our approach with the 3D optical phase microscopy technique to improve the accuracy of the database. The impact of this database can be very significant to cell optics research and its applications in development of various high-performance optical instrumentation for cell biology and clinical studies.

Publications

· R. S. Brock, X.H. Hu, D.A. Weidner, J.R. Mourant, J.Q. Lu, "Effect of detailed cell structure on light scattering distribution: FDTD study of a B-cell with 3D structure constructed from confocal images", Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy & Radiative Transfer, 102, 25-36 (2006)