UNF’s Materials Science and Engineering Research Facility has partnered with TESCAN, a Czech Republic company that manufactures electron and light microscopes. According to the University, MSERF will be working with a holographic microscope that is specifically designed for quantitative phase imaging, called the Q-Phase.

This design is reportedly the first of its kind and has the capability of imaging live cells for five days, making experimentation more efficient. This new process allows cells to live through the process of imaging.

UNF faculty have taken an interest in the Q-Phase by using it for biological research.

“We’re interested in examining the synergistic effect of saffron and conventional taxane therapy using breast and colon carcinoma cell lines,” said biology lecturer Dr. Fatima Khwaja Rehman.

The new microscope will be used at MSERF in the Skinner-Jones Hall throughout its 90-day trial period. The University has also stated that they have been working with researchers from Mayo Clinic in order to use the microscope in the interest of treating various types of cancer.

Dr. Maarten Rotman, a researcher from the Mayo Neurosurgery Lab of Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, has reportedly been using the microscope to observe brain cells.

“We want to know why certain brain cancer cells spread out over the brain and resist chemotherapeutic treatment and what we can do to stop that,” Dr. Rotman said. “Using the Q-Phase microscope, we’re analyzing with great clarity the effects of certain new treatments on the mobility and survival of brain cancer cells.”

—

For more information or news tips, or if you see an error in this story or have any compliments or concerns, contact editor@unfspinnaker.com.