Noninvasive imaging of 3D dynamics in the cell nucleus

The cell nucleus is a highly dynamic organelle which controls the activities of the cell by regulating gene expression. The complex dynamics of nuclear proteins span a large range of length and time scales which can be studied with fluorescence microscopy to understand how interactions at the molecular level lead to collective behavior. However, challenges remain as data acquisition is limited to short time scales due to fluorophore instability and photodamage by excitation light sources. We introduce an experimental technique using single-walled carbon nanotubes combined with near-infrared excitation to circumvent photodamage. Furthermore, we collect 3D trajectories of these fluorophores processed by novel reconstruction algorithms to understand behavior in crowded environments. This technique will serve as an effective tool to study the cell nucleus dynamics during different stages of the cell cycle.