The Bioengineering and Nanosciences Laboratory and the Charles Coulomb Laboratory inaugurate the operation of a microscope that is unique in France.
Recording images of the mechanical state of cells is now possible at the University of Montpellier thanks to the Brillouin microscope designed for biology, which was developed by the Bioengineering and Nanoscience Laboratory and the Charles Coulomb Laboratory. The Brillouin microscope will be inaugurated on June 27, 2024, at 5 p.m. at the Triolet site during the Brillouin imaging training days.
Mechanobiology is an emerging scientific field at the interface of biology, engineering, chemistry, and physics. It focuses on how physical forces and changes in the mechanical properties of cells and tissues contribute to development, cell differentiation, physiology, and disease.
The role and importance of the mechanical properties of cells and tissues in cellular function, development, and disease have all been widely recognized. However, the standard techniques currently used to evaluate them have limitations. Recently, Brillouin microscopy has emerged as a non-destructive, label-free, and non-contact method capable of probing the viscoelastic properties of biological samples with sub-micrometer resolution in 3D. This has attracted increased attention from the entire scientific community.
An innovation in the field of mechanobiology
Brillouin microscopy, which has long been used in materials science, is now undergoing rapid development in the field of biology thanks to advances in certain optical components. This tool has numerous applications, including the study of the rigidity of healthy and pathological cells, their interactions, and their dynamics under different conditions.
Above are the first images of cells captured by the Brillouin microscope developed by a team at L2C, in collaboration with LBN. Here, we see a stem cell found in the tooth (dental pulp). The image can be divided according to the rigidity of the different compartments. This opens up a vast field of applications and understanding of biological phenomena at the cellular level, and numerous collaborations are currently underway.