Achieving single cell acoustic localisation with deactivation super resolution

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new ultrasound technique called DSR that can precisely locate individual cells by using genetically engineered contrast agents, surpassing the resolution of traditional imaging methods.

Contribution

The novel DSR method uses gas vesicles to achieve super-resolution ultrasound imaging of individual cells.

Findings

DSR can resolve sub-wavelength microstructures that standard B-mode ultrasound cannot.

Genetically engineered cells expressing gas vesicles enable acoustic contrast for cell localization.

The study demonstrates a proof of concept for DSR as a super-resolution ultrasound technique.

Abstract

Photo-activated localization microscopy (PALM) has been a game-changer, breaking the diffraction limit in spatial resolution. This study presents the Deactivation Super Resolution (DSR) method, which utilises the deactivation of genetically encodable contrast agents, enabling us to super-resolve and pinpoint individual cells with ultrasound as they navigate through structures which cannot be resolved by conventional B-Mode imaging. DSR takes advantage of Gas Vesicles (GVs), which are air-filled sub-micron particles that have been expressed in genetically engineered bacterial and mammalian cells to produce acoustic contrast. Our experimental results show that DSR can distinguish sub-wavelength microstructures that standard B-mode ultrasound images fail to resolve by super-localising individual mammalian cells. This study provides a proof of concept for the potential of DSR to serve as a super-resolution ultrasound technique for individual cell localisation, opening new horizons in the field.

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