The Irving Institute for Cancer Dynamics (IICD) recently set up a serial two-photon tomography (STPT) system with an automated collector to image and annotate tumor biopsies. The instrument will allow the development of new approaches to image and interrogate the tumor microenvironment with single-cell resolution. IICD Associate Member Darcy Peterka, PhD - Senior Scientist, Director of Team Science and Scientific Director of Cellular Imaging at the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute - oversees the project. The instrument is currently housed at the Zuckerman Institute.
These systems allow very high-resolution multi-color imaging of intact tissue volumes. They repeatedly image, then section and capture tissue sections. By using two-photon imaging with near-infrared light, the instrument can image deeper into scattering tissue than what would be possible with standard microscopy methods. The captured sections can then be further processed and analyzed using various -omics methods, such as proteomics or transcriptomics, to generate 3D spatial maps of gene expression or molecules linked directly to the anatomical maps.
Simon Tavaré, FRS - Director of the Irving Institute for Cancer Dynamics and Professor of Statistics and Biological Sciences - noted that “studying the molecular annotation of tumors in three dimensions is a rapidly growing area of cancer research, and the STPT system will allow the IICD to pursue a number of projects in that area. It will also allow us to build new collaborations with other Columbia departments and research institutes, one of the key missions of our institute.”