A group of researchers at Umeå University Center for Molecular Medicine in Sweden have developed a new biomedical imaging method using optical projection tomography (OPT) to study insulin-producing cells in diabetes.
Initially the method could only be used on relatively small preparations, but five years ago the scientists were able to adapt the technology to study whole organs including the pancreas from adult mice.
The findings describe a further development of the OPT technology by going from ordinary visible light to the near-infrared spectrum. Near infrared light has longer wavelengths that can more easily penetrate tissue, so the newly developed imaging platform can enable the study of much larger samples than was previously possible.
Being able to image in near-infrared light, also means that it’s possible to study more and different cell types in one organ preparation. Near Infrared-OPT technology may also be used as a tool to calibrate the non-invasive read out by magnetic resonance imaging.
This will be tested in the newly launched Marie Curie project "European Training Network for Excellence in Molecular Imaging in Diabetes," which links together five major EU-funded research consortia with different cutting-edge competences in the field.
