斯坦福大学Manu Prakash研究组的一项最新研究开发出无标度垂直跟踪显微镜。 相关论文发表在2020年8月17日出版的《自然—方法学》杂志上。

课题组人员以沿重力轴没有运动限制的“流体动力跑步机”为基础，开发了无标度的垂直跟踪显微镜。使用这种方法跨越空间尺度，研究小组组建了一个非吸附浮游细胞和生物体的多尺度行为数据集。

此外，课题组研究人员演示了一个单细胞虚拟现实系统，其中细胞行为直接控制其周围的环境参数，使量化行为分析成为可能。他们的方法和结果例证了一种多尺度测量的新范例，其中人们可以以微观尺度观察和探测宏观尺度及与生态相关的现象。除了海洋环境，课题组人员预见他们的方法将免除盖玻片的限制，允许悬浮状态下细胞和生物体的生物测量。

据悉，与自由悬浮生物相关的行为和微观过程，以及下沉的颗粒是构成海洋中关键生态过程的基础。在实验室机理性地研究这样的多尺度过程对于显微镜存在一个相当大的挑战：如何在微尺度分辨率测量单个细胞，同时允许他们自由地在数百米的垂直方向上移动。

附：英文原文

Title: Scale-free vertical tracking microscopy

Author: Deepak Krishnamurthy, Hongquan Li, Franois Benoit du Rey, Pierre Cambournac, Adam G. Larson, Ethan Li, Manu Prakash

Issue&Volume: 2020-08-17

Abstract: The behavior and microscale processes associated with freely suspended organisms, along with sinking particles underlie key ecological processes in the ocean. Mechanistically studying such multiscale processes in the laboratory presents a considerable challenge for microscopy: how to measure single cells at microscale resolution, while allowing them to freely move hundreds of meters in the vertical direction Here we present a solution in the form of a scale-free, vertical tracking microscope, based on a ‘hydrodynamic treadmill’ with no bounds for motion along the axis of gravity. Using this method to bridge spatial scales, we assembled a multiscale behavioral dataset of nonadherent planktonic cells and organisms. Furthermore, we demonstrate a ‘virtual-reality system for single cells’, wherein cell behavior directly controls its ambient environmental parameters, enabling quantitative behavioral assays. Our method and results exemplify a new paradigm of multiscale measurement, wherein one can observe and probe macroscale and ecologically relevant phenomena at microscale resolution. Beyond the marine context, we foresee that our method will allow biological measurements of cells and organisms in a suspended state by freeing them from the confines of the coverslip.

DOI: 10.1038/s41592-020-0924-7

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-020-0924-7