Quantitative phase microscopy for 3D qualitative characterization of cancer cells

This project is focused on research of microscopic methods based on simultaneous quantitative phase imaging and mechanical stimulation to evaluate biomechanics of living cells. The proposed methods will allow quantitative cell imaging in dynamic studies of cellular morphology and cellular stiffness needed in cancer research. The imaging system will benefit from recent advancement in quantitative phase microscopy such as diffraction phase microscopy and digital off-axis holographic microscopy. The imaging system will be used during mechanical stimulation of cells in two setups utilizing: 1) ultrasound waves and 2) shear stress. The project includes research of new algorithms for processing of acquired image sequences. New imaging techniques will be compared to the traditional confocal fluorescence microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Further, the proposed methods will be experimentally evaluated and verified in prostate cancer cell experiments.