Arizona State University has announced a $1 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to support a team of scientists at the university's Biodesign Institute working to develop a 3-D imaging microscope.

Led by Dierdre Meldrum, who heads the Center for Biosignatures Discovery Automation, the team will use the funds to build a Cell-CT scanner, a next-generation microscope, to perform functional computed tomographic (CT) imaging of individual living cells, enabling scientists to gain new insights into the metabolic pathways of disease such as cancer. Leveraging technology developed by VisionGate, Inc. in collaboration with Meldrum's team, the four-year effort seeks to advance applications in basic and clinical science, deepen scientific understanding of metabolism and disease processes, and expand the horizons of medical diagnostics.

One of the biggest challenges in developing the scanner is finding the best way to rotate cells precisely without harming them. To that end, the team is exploring two methods: the first rotates cells in a microfluidic vortex, while the second rotates cells with an infrared light beam. The technology will be validated through comparison studies between Cell-CT scanned cells grown in culture representing various stages of cancers and cells taken from human biopsies spanning the same disease spectrum. It is hoped that the scanner, when completed, will enable rapid 3-D spatial localization of proteins and assessment of their concentrations in sub-cellular compartments and microdomains and bring to light relationships between cell structure and function in disease.

"We're tremendously excited by the potential this technology presents for important breakthroughs," said Meldrum, "not only in cellular biology but also in medicine and ultimately personalized health care."