Quantitative Phase Microscopy QPM

Lyncée Tec is particularly proud to be the pioneer company developing  the use of Quantitative Phase Microscopy (QPM) in the field of cellular biology. Since the patented invention of DHM®,  Lyncée team has worked in close cooperation with the biologist of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL) to discover with them the various interpretation of QPM in cell biology. The most relevant publications concerning biological imaging are based on measurements performed by DHM® by Lyncée Tec.

 

Absolute quantitative measurements

Label-free, strictly non-invasive

  • No phototoxicity
  • No photobleaching
  • No photothermal effects

4D: dynamical time-analysis of cells morphology

Mobility and growth of yeast cells

The Digital Holography Microscopy (DHM®) has been developed in close cooperation with biologists. Used in conjunction with dedicated software, it enables easy and efficient approach for daily QPM investigations in cellular imaging labs.

Time-lapse, cell tracking, cell differentiation, cell cycle monitoring, cell proliferation and morphology measurements are among the main applications. Quantitative measurements enable objective criteria decision and classification.

QPM for biological imaging is usually performed with a transmission DHM®, and its software for acquisition and analysis. It can be completed by optional  motorized XYZ stage and by a fluorescence module enabling you to compare DHM® measurements with  fluorescence data. Output data are compatible with ImageJ for instance for more extensive and detailed analysis.

Quantitative Phase Measurements by Lyncée is the most efficient solution for your laboratory. It enables to accelerate your research and to get new insights . Getting efficiently results enables to get more publication out of your innovative research and supports new fundrising.

Increase your efficiency:

  • No cell preparation
  • Perform non invasive time-lapse measurements
  • Easier cell segmentation: data analysis is faster and easier
  • Digital autofocusing: less data to discard

Decrease your running costs:

  • Need of less resources for assays preparation
  • No need for labeling agents
  • Simply your experimental protocol
  • No need to change mediums and to washout

Quantitative Phase Measurements (QPM)  by DHM®should not be seen as competitive system, but as complementary one to traditional biologic imaging and diagnostic systems. DHM® provides information difficult or impossible to retrieve with alternative systems. And in many cases, DHM® QPM information alone give unique valuable information.

DHM® system enables multi-modal investigation. As shown in many publications, DHM® is often used in conjunction with other imaging and diagnostic techniques, such as video fluorescence and electrophysiology set up. The optional fluorescence module offers actually an additional port for potential integration with other imaging system (confocal, IR, etc), diagnostic, and cell manipulation (optical tweezers, etc) modalities.

QPM measurement by DHM®  is an original and patented method by Lyncée Tec. The pioneer works on the interpretation of the QPM (by DHM® or other methods) in term of morphology, electrical current, and the volume regulation have been also patented.

DHM® versus alternative techniques

DHM®  is a label-free and quantitative image based technique being able to study single cells, providing thus good specificity using well defined protocols. Other methods require in most of the case cell preparation (labelling). Quantitative phase has very valuable biological interpretation and allows investigation of unexplored physiopathological processes of living cells.

DHM® is a non-scanning technique, enabling LIVE measurement of dynamical phenomenoms.

DHM® provides numerical focalization, enabling to retrieve a sharp focus without time consuming vertical height adjustment of the samples. This enables unrivaled screening speed. An additional advantage is that it can be performed after acquisition, reducing the risk to lose a set of important data due to bad vertical adjustment.

Quantitative Phase Microscopy has been developed by Lyncée Tec for more than one decade, in close collaboration with biologists and biophysicists. Many different type cells and protocols have been measured and experimented. Some applications concern large scientific communities. They have been presented on this website as solutions. Many other are of relevant interest, but concern smaller communities. A few examples are given here below.

  • Yeast: cell cycle and protein content monitoring [Rappaz, 2009]
  • Diagnostic: Pollen grain recognition [Charrière, 2008]
  • Refractive index tomography of amibia, polens, neurones, etc. [Charrière 2006, 2007, Kuhn 2009, Cotte 2013]
  • Polarization induced by biological samples [Jordan 2012], in Nature Photonics.