Overview
- Australian National University researchers reported the RO-iSCAT method in Nature Communications, introducing a way to watch living cells in three dimensions for days.
- RO-iSCAT, short for rotational integration of oblique interferometric scattering, rotates the light angle and stacks images from different heights to strip background noise and boost signal about tenfold.
- The label-free approach avoids fluorescent dyes that can harm cells, which helps scientists track delicate behavior without phototoxic effects.
- Using the tool, the team saw thin, thread-like membrane extensions that extend, retract, twist, and then lock into stable bridges that pass biochemical messages between nearby cells.
- Early tests showed pancreatic cancer and blood-vessel cells forming tight bridges with connective tissue, and the researchers say the same networks could clarify how some viruses spread and guide future efforts to block disease pathways or deliver drugs more precisely.