Light scattering spectroscopy and imaging of cellular and subcellular events

The optical analysis of thin biological specimens, such as cells and tissue slices, plays an important role in many clinical and biological diagnostic studies, including the evaluation of biopsies of disease tissues and the examination of live tissue metabolism in real time. Several optical techniques are available to study these ex vivo biological specimens and serve as probes of human disease and biological function. Diagnostic tests may be based on the observation of fluorescently labeled molecules involved in cellular metabolism. They can also be based on the observation of intrinsic fluorescence, elastic scattering, and Raman scattering from natural biomolecules. Typically, fluorescence and Raman scattering techniques are used to identify or localize specific biochemical entities. However, an important aspect of tissue diagnosis is based on assessing cellular and subcellular morphology. The morphological analysis of tissues, cells, and subcellular organelles is the primary objective of biomedical optical techniques based on elastic light scattering.