Deciphering stochastic fluctuations in living cells using label-free interferometric scattering microscopy
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 23-Jun-2026 04:16 ET (23-Jun-2026 08:16 GMT/UTC)
A study published in PhotoniX Life presents a label-free method for mapping subcellular dynamics using wide-field interferometric scattering (iSCAT) microscopy and power spectral density (PSD) analysis. By fitting the pixel-wise PSD of iSCAT signals to an inverse-power-law relationship over 30–1,250 Hz, the researchers generated spectral exponent maps that visualize the characteristics and strength of subcellular motion. The method distinguished between mitotic and interphase cells, between live and apoptotic cells, and among thyroid cancer cell subtypes with increasing malignancy, highlighting a potential intrinsic optical marker for mechanobiology, cancer research, and stem cell assessment.
Salk Institute researchers investigated the impacts of entinostat, a drug that targets HDAC proteins, and found it inactivates DNA damage repair genes in pancreatic cancer cells. Their discovery led to new treatment strategies that pair entinostat with DNA-damaging therapies, as well as the development of a nanoparticle-based delivery approach that limits toxicity by selectively delivering entinostat to tumors. The findings could improve treatment outcomes and expand therapeutic options for pancreatic cancer, and similar strategies could be applied for treating other cancer types that resist DNA-damaging therapies.
A new study led by researchers at WashU Medicine suggests that younger generations are aging biologically faster than their older counterparts. This faster biological aging was also linked to early-onset cancers.
The award, which comes with $100,000, the highest funding level awarded through the OutSmarting Osteosarcoma program, will support Nowicki’s research into the development of a next-generation CAR-T cell therapy for osteosarcoma, the most common bone cancer in children and adolescents.
Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have found that wearable devices may help clinicians detect cytokine release syndrome (CRS)—a common and potentially serious side effect of CAR-T cell therapy—hours earlier than standard hospital monitoring in patients with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that begins in plasma cells in the bone marrow.