Category: Centre News

Since the 1970’s the gold standard technique for measuring the activity of individual neurons has been patch clamp, which uses an electrode to record the activity of a single neuron.

However, this measurement destroys the cell, limiting the timeframe of experiments to minutes and can only measure the activity of one neuron at a time.

We are developing novel techniques harnessing the power of quantum technologies to provide new ways to measure brain activity from individual neurons, or whole networks of neurons.

We culture the neurons on lab-grown diamonds to visualise neuronal activity. Through imaging neuronal activity, rather than using electrodes as in patch clamp, the measurements can be taken over long periods of time.

In the future this will allow us to visualise activity across the whole brain and understand how individual neurons connect with each other to coordinate the intricate functions of the brain.  

Image: Neurons cultured on a diamond, Ooi Lab, University of Wollongong

There are many important reasons to look inside bone and the bone marrow buried deep inside bone cavities. Clinicians need to be able to monitor the repair of bone fractures, especially in children and the elderly. Diagnosing and treating bone cancer needs to be guided by tracking the identity and behaviour of cells in bone and marrow. Bone marrow transplants need careful monitoring of the newly-seeded cells. In other tissues within the body, microscopes can be used to help visualize cells and molecules, to understand disease processes, and to guide clinical treatments. In bone, however, this is not currently possible. Bone is a problematic medium for optical microscopes using light or laser sources, due to bone having high light scattering and low penetration properties. The ability to see critical changes in cells or molecules inside bone is severely limited.

Overcoming these current limitations was a challenge set out by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), a philanthropic venture supported by Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg that seeks to cure human diseases. A team of Australian multi-disciplinary scientists are one of ten teams globally to receive funding through the CZI Deep Tissue Imaging grant to use quantum imaging to overcome the limitations of laser-based imaging and microscopy in bone.

Led by Professor Jennifer Stow, cell biologist at The University of Queensland (UQ) the project will specifically harness innovative quantum triangulation and quantum cutting nanoparticles to image bone marrow using lasers at near infrared wavelengths, in order to create high resolution, deep imaging through bone. Other members of the team are quantum optics scientist Professor Warwick Bowen (UQ); bone marrow expert Professor Allison Pettit (Mater Research); and nanotechnology researchers Distinguished Professor Dayong Jin and Associate Professor Jiajia Zhou at the University of Technology Sydney. The impact of this work is life changing as it will allow researchers and clinicians access to the fine details and diagnostic markers at the cell and molecular level in bone marrow.

Vital expertise and resources for this work comes from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Quantum Biotechnology (QUBIC). The Centre is hosted at The University of Queensland under Director, Professor Warwick Bowen. Other QUBIC Chief Investigators on the team include Stow, Jin and Zhou. Australia’s strength in quantum science, with the support of CZI and its global network, addresses pressing needs for bone marrow imaging in transplantation, cancer and immunity. More broadly, with quantum innovations and training opportunities emerging from this exciting research, we can look forward to the far-reaching benefits for all types of microscopy improving tissue imaging in medicine and biology.

Image: Bone marrow derived immune cells, Stow lab, University of Queensland