Real-time imaging of cellular forces using optical interference

Andrew Thomas Meek; Nils Michael Kronenberg; Andrew Morton; Philipp Liehm; Jan Murawski; Eleni Dalaka; Jonathan Hunter Booth; Simon John Powis; Malte Christian Gather

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-23734-4

Real-time imaging of cellular forces using optical interference

Andrew Thomas Meek, Nils Michael Kronenberg, Andrew Morton, Philipp Liehm, Jan Murawski, Eleni Dalaka, Jonathan Hunter Booth, Simon John Powis, Malte Christian Gather^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Important dynamic processes in mechanobiology remain elusive due to a lack of tools to image the small cellular forces at play with sufficient speed and throughput. Here, we introduce a fast, interference-based force imaging method that uses the illumination of an elastic deformable microcavity with two rapidly alternating wavelengths to map forces. We show real-time acquisition and processing of data, obtain images of mechanical activity while scanning across a cell culture, and investigate sub-second fluctuations of the piconewton forces exerted by macrophage podosomes. We also demonstrate force imaging of beating neonatal cardiomyocytes at 100 fps which reveals mechanical aspects of spontaneous oscillatory contraction waves in between the main contraction cycles. These examples illustrate the wider potential of our technique for monitoring cellular forces with high throughput and excellent temporal resolution.

Original language	English
Article number	3552
Number of pages	11
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23734-4
Publication status	Published - 11 Jun 2021

Keywords

Cell adhesion
Cellular imagining
Imaging techniques
Interference microscopy

Access to Document

10.1038/s41467-021-23734-4Licence: CC BY

Meek_2021_NatComm_Real-time_CC
Copyright © The Author(s) 2021. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.
Final published version, 2.46 MBLicence: CC BY

Resonant and shaped photonics for under: Resonant and shaped photonics for understanding the physical and biomedical world
Dholakia, K. (PI) & Gather, M. (CoI)
1/08/17 → 31/07/22
Project: Standard
H2020 ERC Starting Grant ABLASE: H2020 ERC Starting Grant ABLASE (Grant Agreement No. 640012)
Gather, M. (PI)
European Research Council
1/06/15 → 31/05/21
Project: Standard

Real-time imaging of cellular forces using optical interference (dataset)
Meek, A. T. (Creator), Kronenberg, N. M. (Creator), Morton, A. (Creator), Liehm, P. (Creator), Murawski, J. (Creator), Dalaka, E. (Creator), Booth, J. H. (Creator), Powis, S. J. (Creator) & Gather, M. C. (Creator), University of St Andrews, 26 Apr 2021
DOI: 10.17630/9b706387-c972-4c87-8c48-f492192590b1
Dataset

File

Biophotonic tools to image cellular mechanics
Meek, A. T. (Author), Gather, M. C. (Supervisor), 1 Dec 2020
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis (PhD)
Optical micro-resonators for the study and quantification of cellular forces
Dalaka, E. (Author), Gather, M. C. (Supervisor), 1 Dec 2020
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis (PhD)
The development and use of elastic resonators to study biomechanics in soft-bodied locomotion
Booth, J. R. H. (Author), Gather, M. C. (Supervisor) & Pulver, S. R. (Supervisor), 10 Jun 2024
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis (PhD)

Cite this

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title = "Real-time imaging of cellular forces using optical interference",

abstract = "Important dynamic processes in mechanobiology remain elusive due to a lack of tools to image the small cellular forces at play with sufficient speed and throughput. Here, we introduce a fast, interference-based force imaging method that uses the illumination of an elastic deformable microcavity with two rapidly alternating wavelengths to map forces. We show real-time acquisition and processing of data, obtain images of mechanical activity while scanning across a cell culture, and investigate sub-second fluctuations of the piconewton forces exerted by macrophage podosomes. We also demonstrate force imaging of beating neonatal cardiomyocytes at 100 fps which reveals mechanical aspects of spontaneous oscillatory contraction waves in between the main contraction cycles. These examples illustrate the wider potential of our technique for monitoring cellular forces with high throughput and excellent temporal resolution.",

keywords = "Cell adhesion, Cellular imagining, Imaging techniques, Interference microscopy",

author = "Meek, {Andrew Thomas} and Kronenberg, {Nils Michael} and Andrew Morton and Philipp Liehm and Jan Murawski and Eleni Dalaka and Booth, {Jonathan Hunter} and Powis, {Simon John} and Gather, {Malte Christian}",

note = "Funding: This research was financially supported by an EPSRC Programme Grant (EP/P030017/1), by the European Research Council under the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (ERC StG ABLASE, 640012), and by the EPSRC Doctoral Training Partnership (EP/M508214/1, EP/L505079/1). M.C.G. acknowledges funding from the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung (Humboldt-Professorship).",

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doi = "10.1038/s41467-021-23734-4",

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T1 - Real-time imaging of cellular forces using optical interference

AU - Meek, Andrew Thomas

AU - Kronenberg, Nils Michael

AU - Morton, Andrew

AU - Liehm, Philipp

AU - Murawski, Jan

AU - Dalaka, Eleni

AU - Booth, Jonathan Hunter

AU - Powis, Simon John

AU - Gather, Malte Christian

N1 - Funding: This research was financially supported by an EPSRC Programme Grant (EP/P030017/1), by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (ERC StG ABLASE, 640012), and by the EPSRC Doctoral Training Partnership (EP/M508214/1, EP/L505079/1). M.C.G. acknowledges funding from the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung (Humboldt-Professorship).

PY - 2021/6/11

Y1 - 2021/6/11

N2 - Important dynamic processes in mechanobiology remain elusive due to a lack of tools to image the small cellular forces at play with sufficient speed and throughput. Here, we introduce a fast, interference-based force imaging method that uses the illumination of an elastic deformable microcavity with two rapidly alternating wavelengths to map forces. We show real-time acquisition and processing of data, obtain images of mechanical activity while scanning across a cell culture, and investigate sub-second fluctuations of the piconewton forces exerted by macrophage podosomes. We also demonstrate force imaging of beating neonatal cardiomyocytes at 100 fps which reveals mechanical aspects of spontaneous oscillatory contraction waves in between the main contraction cycles. These examples illustrate the wider potential of our technique for monitoring cellular forces with high throughput and excellent temporal resolution.

AB - Important dynamic processes in mechanobiology remain elusive due to a lack of tools to image the small cellular forces at play with sufficient speed and throughput. Here, we introduce a fast, interference-based force imaging method that uses the illumination of an elastic deformable microcavity with two rapidly alternating wavelengths to map forces. We show real-time acquisition and processing of data, obtain images of mechanical activity while scanning across a cell culture, and investigate sub-second fluctuations of the piconewton forces exerted by macrophage podosomes. We also demonstrate force imaging of beating neonatal cardiomyocytes at 100 fps which reveals mechanical aspects of spontaneous oscillatory contraction waves in between the main contraction cycles. These examples illustrate the wider potential of our technique for monitoring cellular forces with high throughput and excellent temporal resolution.

KW - Cell adhesion

KW - Cellular imagining

KW - Imaging techniques

KW - Interference microscopy

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-021-23734-4

DO - 10.1038/s41467-021-23734-4

M3 - Article

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 12

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

M1 - 3552

ER -

Real-time imaging of cellular forces using optical interference

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

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Projects

Resonant and shaped photonics for under: Resonant and shaped photonics for understanding the physical and biomedical world

H2020 ERC Starting Grant ABLASE: H2020 ERC Starting Grant ABLASE (Grant Agreement No. 640012)

Datasets

Real-time imaging of cellular forces using optical interference (dataset)

Student theses

Biophotonic tools to image cellular mechanics

Optical micro-resonators for the study and quantification of cellular forces

The development and use of elastic resonators to study biomechanics in soft-bodied locomotion

Cite this