Cells get ready for their close-up
In 2007, MIT scientists developed a type of microscopy that allowed them to detail the interior of a living cell in three dimensions, without adding any fluorescent markers or other labels. This technique also revealed key properties, such as the cells’ density.Now the researchers have adapted that method so they can image cells as they flow through a tiny microfluidic channel — an important step toward cell-sorting systems that could help scientists separate stem cells at varying stages of development, or to distinguish healthy cells from cancerous cells.Other sorting methods require scientists to add a fluorescent molecule that highlights the cells of interest, but those tags can damage the cells and make them unsuitable for therapeutic uses. “Many stem cell applications require sorting of cells at different stages of differentiation. This can be done with fluorescent staining, but once you stain the cells they cannot be used. With our approach,...