Novel Design Modifications to Microfluidic Microscopes Enabling Full 3D Profiling

Web Published:
9/20/2012
Description:

Princeton Dockets # 12-2746, 12-2747, & 12-2748

 

Researchers at Princeton University have developed novel modifications to microfluidic microscope (MFM) devices.  These new features will allow full three-dimensional (3D) profiling of objects, while retaining the simplicity and high throughput of traditional MFMs.

 

Microfluidic Microscopy is a relatively new imaging technique based on guiding samples under the window of observation by flowing them in a microfluidic channel. They include both conventional microscopes (e.g. objectives) with modified slide stages as well as lensless optofluidic microscopes (in which objects, such as cells, are flowed directly over an imaging sensor).

 

Currently, there are two types of MFMs: those that image only intensity and those that use interference (holography) to record both intensity and phase.  The former method is simple but has only been used to create a flat, 2D image. The latter has been applied to obtain 3D data, but it requires additional beams and optical paths, and the measurement sensitivity is compromised.

 

Princeton researchers have developed three modifications that retain the simplicity and high throughput of regular MFMs, and enables full 3D reconstruction of the object.  The first tilts the fluidic channel, so that the different heights of the object are recorded as it flows.  The second uses the flow to rotate the object, so that multiple viewpoints are imaged.  The third is a method of patterned illumination of the object in the channel, which also permits 3D optical profiling but increases resolution as well.  Each method can be implemented easily in any existing microfluidic microscope and is ideally suited for 3D profiling in flow cytometers.

 

Applications

In microfluidic microscopes for 

·         Medical diagnosis

·         Biological research

·         Lab-on-a-chip imaging device

 

Advantages         

·         Full 3D profiling

·         Increased resolution

·         Simplicity

·         High throughput

 

Faculty Inventor

Jason Fleischer is Associate Professor of Electric Engineering at Princeton University.  His research focuses on nonlinear optics and computational imaging. The emphasis is on propagation problems that are universal to wave systems, taking advantage of the fact that optical systems allow easy control of the input and direct imaging of the output.  Among the numerous awards and honors Professor Fleischer has received are Fellowship in the Optical Society of America (2011), a Department of Energy Plasma Physics Junior Faculty Award (2008), and the Emerson Electric Company Lawrence Keys '51 Faculty Advancement Award (2007).

 

Intellectual Property status

Patent protection is pending.

Patent Information:
For Information, Contact:
Michael Tyerech
former Princeton Sr. Licensing Associate
Princeton University
mtyerech@rd.us.loreal.com
Inventors:
Jason Fleischer
Nicolas Pegard
Keywords:
life science research tools
medical device
Opto-Electronics/ELE ENG