and lower the blood oxygen level, a pro-
cess monitored by small oxygen sensors
placed in each container. This method,
like others mentioned, has weaknesses.
To get a meaningful sample size of meta-
bolic data for cancer cells would require
researchers to use thousands of contain-
ers and sensors. Additionally, sensors in
the containers alter the cells’ metabolic
rates, making the collected data inaccu-
rate.
Wang’s improved version does away
with the oxygen sensors and instead
uses PAM to measure oxygen level in
each container. He does this with a laser
tuned to a wavelength that hemoglobin
in blood absorbs and converts into vibra-
tional energy—i.e., sound. As a hemo-
globin molecule becomes oxygenated,
its ability to absorb light at that wave-
length changes. Thus, Wang can deter-
mine how oxygenated a sample of blood
is by “listening” to the sound it makes
when illuminated by the laser. He callsthis single-cell metabolic photoacoustic
microscopy, or SCM-PAM.
SCM-PAM represents a huge improve-
ment in the ability to assess the OCR of
cancer cells, according to Wang. Using
individual oxygen sensors to measureOCR limited researchers to analyzing
roughly 30 cancer cells every 15 minutes.
Wang’s SCM-PAM improves that by two
orders of magnitude and lets researchers
analyze around 3,000 cells in about 15
minutes. NewsResearchers developed this photoacoustic microscopy apparatus for imaging the metabolic
rates of cancer cells. This data let oncologists identify the various types of cancer cells in a
tumor and devise an appropriate treatment. (Credit: Caltech)©2019. Portescap. All rights reserved. http://www.portescap.com
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