MitoQuant
"Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell"
The meme-made quote above indicates it: mitochondria play a vital role in the cellular machinery. It is little surprising that the dysfunction of mitochondria has been linked to many diseases, from diabetes to neurodegeneration.
Hence, countless studies have looked at the interplay of these organelles and their molecular dynamics - often employing fluorescence microscopy and lately also nanoscopy as the scientific tool of choice. Although powerful, a continued worry overshadowing findings and deductions from fluorescence microscopy is the possibility that the transfection-induced overexpression of fluorescent proteins skews the obtained results. This is where MitoQuant comes into play.
The project's aim is to image contextual mitochondrial information with label-free nanoscopy, while simultaneously enhancing image quality of specific but sparse fluorescently labelled proteins of interest through latest de-noising routines based on machine learning.
How does this work? The MitoQuant microscope operates in the deep UV range, which intrinsically offers higher resolution. This spectral domain was previously unexplored in the life sciences due to the lack of dedicated optics and the destructive potential of high-energy photons. However, new imaging techniques originally developed for digital pathology can circumvent these problems and are thus expected to enable live-cell imaging in the 100nm range.
Project Updates
Autumn 2020
Summer 2020
Lab work has resumed with additional safety measures in place.
First autofluorescence image of a fibroblast cell using deep UV. What's the strong signal near the filopodia?
We implemented deep learning and improvemed calibration tasks in Fourier ptychography 3-fold! Paper in the making now!
Spring 2020
Our presentation at FOM was cancelled (together with the entire conference) due to the Corona virus.
Lab work was halted due to the Corona virus pandemic.
We developed a handy plug-in for video-nanoscopy. MusiJ computes superresolved images from intrinsic fluorophore fluctuations using the algorithm "MUSICAL".
Winter 2020
Simulations with realistic system parameters show the benefit of computational aberration correction.
Our first experimental ROCS image using near UV! Let's call it RUCS.
Florian selected as Aurora Oustanding member, the program for outstanding academic fellows at UiT.
Huge success of our workshop, hosting 3 microscopy-leaders and 50 participants from across the globe!
Autumn 2019
Release of YouTube video series on optical alignment.
Safety tip: Have spare equipment for your collaborators ready. Make science together!
Construction of the microscope has begun.
Registration for our Microscopy workshop is open from 1st December!
Summer 2019
The lab at the start of the project - with some work, this can be an excellent optics lab.
Planning is important. We use ray tracing to estimate optical properties of our design (source Zemax) ...
... and CAD software to ensure a physical realization of our optical setup.
The optical table has arrived, time for tidying up and moving heavy things!
Thanks to Jean-Claude the eagle (table) has landed safely and the lab is starting to take shape.
The microscope body and the control PC are here! Further, things to install before any UV lab work can start are safety related.
One such safety feature is an optical curtain to shield colleagues from UV exposure and laser light.