Typically, interpretation of surgical biopsies is a time-consuming, subjective process, based on a pathologist’s visual interpretation. Now, a group of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has designed a microscopy technique called nonlinear interferometric vibrational imaging (NIVI) that produces color-coded images of tissue outlining clear tumor boundaries with 99% accuracy – in less than five minutes.
Instead of the traditional method of assessing cell structure and arrangement, this technology produces images based on molecular composition. Cancerous cells have more protein than normal cells, and a light focused on these cells enhances the native vibration, producing signals that differentiate healthy and malignant cells.
“The analogy is like pushing someone on a swing. If you push at the right time point, the person on the swing will go higher and higher. If you don’t push at the right point in the swing, the person stops,” lead researcher Stephen A. Boppart said. “If we use the right optical frequencies to excite these vibrational states, we can enhance the resonance and the signal.”
The National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health sponsored the study, and the results will be published in the December 1st issue of the journal Cancer Research.
Full story: New imaging technique accurately finds cancer cells, fast …
Abstract: Molecular Histopathology by Spectrally Reconstructed Nonlinear Interferometric Vibrational Imaging …