Authors: Zahra El-Schich, Anna Mölder, Mikael Sebesta, Lennart Gisselsson

Journal: Microscopy: Science, Technology, Applications and Education (2010)

Institution: Malmö university

Research Areas: Method development

Summary: Digital holography is a novel technique that has been developed recently to study living cells. The technique is an innovative, non-destructive method with possibilities to study living cells over time. We are investigating cell number, growth, viability, and death of adherent cells using digital holography, which is a novel, label-free, imaging technique for biological applications. Digital holography is a method that gives us information about the refractive index of cells, which can change under different circumstances. The technique is cheap, fast, and simple to use. The unique measurable parameters are the cell number, cell area, thickness, and volume, which can be transformed to proliferation, migration, viability, and cell death. The digital holographic images produced can provide both quantitative and qualitative phase information from a single hologram. Future applications can include real-time cell monitoring of various parameters of cells of different diseases in response to clinically relevant compounds.

Keywords: engineering and technology, teknik och teknologier, digital holography, cell studies, cancer, viability, refractive index, digital holographic technology