CARS microscopy for imaging 3D organoids: a 3DbioNet funded project
Dr Iestyn Pope’s team at Cardiff University was awarded pump priming grant for this project titled ”Incorporating deuterium into 3D organoids to identify cell types and track cellular metabolic rates using CARS microscopy”. In this study, Dr. Pope’s group intend to use CARS microscopy to image organoids that have been cultured in media containing deuterated water. The aim being to identify the different cell types that make up the organoid structures without the need for fluorescent markers. Similarly by feeding the cells with deuterated compounds we will be able to observe the uptake or metabolic rate of the individual cells and what effects different drugs have on this rate. This will allow us to study these complex systems with minimal interference or modification, allowing long term studies of the effect of therapeutic drugs on cell development and metabolism – a current unmet need within therapeutic design.
1) As different types of cell make different biological molecules, we should be able to tell the cells apart simply by the way in which they use the deuterium from the heavy water.
2) Different types of cells metabolise material in different ways, and this heterogeneity could potentially affect their susceptibility to therapeutics. By studying the turnover of deuterium we should be able to understand the cells metabolism in more detail without using fluorescent markers”.
More information on this project.
3DbioNet 