Revealing what is hidden
At the Dream3D lab we use advanced laser-scanning microscopy to study pediatric cancer. Our technology allows us to dive into the tissue and explore the different types of cells and how they interact.
Proteins
Proteins are the brick and mortar that make up our cells. There are thousands of proteins with different shapes and functions in our bodies. Almost anything a healthy… or a cancer cell need to get done, it will use a protein to do it.
Fluorescent dyes
Some proteins are quite characteristic of a certain cell type, and we can use that to label them. Using fluorescent dyes, we color them and then we scan the tissue in 3D to discover where they are. The beautiful images you see in this room are reconstructions of tissues and cells we have scanned over the years in our quest to understand cancer.
Shape and behaviour
With this technique we can visualize the shape and the behavior of cells, as well as the environment in which they live. This can lead to revolutionary findings that other techniques lack context to capture.