Understanding mouse embryonic development is an invaluable resource for our interpretation of normal human embryology and congenital defects. Our research focuses on developing methods for live imaging and dynamic characterization of early embryonic development in mouse models of human diseases. Using multidisciplinary methods: optical coherence tomography (OCT), live mouse embryo manipulations and static embryo culture, molecular biology, advanced image processing and computational modeling we aim to understand developmental processes. We have developed an OCT based approach to image live early mouse embryos (E8.5 – E9.5) cultured on an imaging stage and visualize developmental events with a spatial resolution of a few micrometers (less than the size of an individual cell) and a frame rate of up to hundreds of frames per second and reconstruct cardiodynamics in 4D (3D+time). We are now using these methods to study how specific embryonic lethal mutations affect cardiac morphology and function during early development.

Date Published: 10 March 2015
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 9334, Optical Methods in Developmental Biology III, 93340S (10 March 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2079951

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9334:
Optical Methods in Developmental Biology III
Andrew M. Rollins; Scott E. Fraser; Michael A. Choma M.D., Editor(s)