Date of Award

8-27-2013

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Computer Science

First Advisor

Coskun Bayrak

Abstract

Flow cytometry is a powerful tool for analysis of cells in artificial flow. This highly accurate technology, using multicolor fluorescent probes and lasers with different wavelengths, provides fast multiparameter quantification of the biological properties of cells. Invasive extraction of cells from an organism, however, leads to changes in cell properties and low sensitivity, and prevents studying cells in their native environment. Challenges to advances in in vivo flow cytometry include fluorescent probe toxicity, strong background, and number of colors, as well as assessment of small vessels. To overcome these limitations, photoacoustic flow cytometry (PAFC) was introduced. PAFC is based on nonradiative transformation of absorbed energy in acoustic waves that are detected with an ultrasound transducer attached to the skin. The multicolor capacity of in vivo flow cytometry, however, was typically limited to two colors, and signal acquisition algorithms were too slow to detect cells in fast biological flows. Here, we describe an in vivo PAFC platform providing high pulse-repetition-rate lasers, low-toxicity gold nanoprobes, multicolor coding, and low background. New signal detection algorithms were developed to acquire and process photoacoustic data in real-time. Utility of this new method was demonstrated through a series of unique biological applications.

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