Development and application of a fast optical particle tracker for very long time high-speed microrheology experiments with living cells

Jonas Pfeil; Tobias Neckernuss; Daniel Geiger; Othmar Marti

doi:10.1117/12.2592547

20 June 2021 Development and application of a fast optical particle tracker for very long time high-speed microrheology experiments with living cells

Jonas Pfeil, Tobias Neckernuss, Daniel Geiger, Othmar Marti

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 11786, Optical Methods for Inspection, Characterization, and Imaging of Biomaterials V; 117861B (2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2592547
Event: SPIE Optical Metrology, 2021, Online Only

Abstract

Measuring the mechanical properties of living tissue is a challenging task due to the small sizes and the fragility of the living organisms. A promising method, which works best on small scales, is the passive microrheology, which observes the motion of tracing beads within the sample. The video imaging method observes this motion by imaging the tracer particles with suitable optics (e.g. a microscope). As living tissue is a complex material, the viscoelastic properties are highly frequency dependent; therefore, a fast high-speed camera is needed to resolve the important frequencies in the 100 to 1000 Hz regime. As the data rate of high-speed cameras exceed the storage speed, only short burst of measurements can be carried out. This leads to a limited dynamic range of frequencies and missed measurement opportunities. It normally is not possible to track all the particles in real time to avoid the storage requirement of the video, as the tracking needs to be very precise and thus has a high computing demand. In this presentation, a combination of a CMOS imaging sensor with an FPGA is presented, which, in combination, allows for virtually unlimited long high-speed tracking of up to eight particles at up to 10 kHz. First, the sensor and the FPGA combinations are laid out. Secondly, the used particle tracking algorithm and its implementation is explained and benchmarked with a known state-of-the-art algorithm. Finally, this integrated sensor solution is mounted on a standard microscope and hour long tracking experiments on living 3T3 fibroblasts are carried out, studying the impact of blebbistatin on the mobility of polystyrene beads within the cell.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Jonas Pfeil, Tobias Neckernuss, Daniel Geiger, and Othmar Marti "Development and application of a fast optical particle tracker for very long time high-speed microrheology experiments with living cells", Proc. SPIE 11786, Optical Methods for Inspection, Characterization, and Imaging of Biomaterials V, 117861B (20 June 2021); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2592547

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available