title: Using electron microscopy to calculate optical properties of biological samples.
abstract: The microscopic structural origins of optical properties in biological media are still not fully understood. Better understanding these origins can serve to improve the utility of existing techniques and facilitate the discovery of other novel techniques. We propose a novel analysis technique using electron microscopy (EM) to calculate optical properties of specific biological structures. This method is demonstrated with images of human epithelial colon cell nuclei. The spectrum of anisotropy factor g, the phase function and the shape factor D of the nuclei are calculated. The results show strong agreement with an independent study. This method provides a new way to extract the true phase function of biological samples and provides an independent validation for optical property measurement techniques.
authors.affiliation: Applied Physics Program, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
authors.forename: Wenli
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Radosevich
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Eshein
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
authors.forename: The-Quyen
authors.initials: TQ
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02118, USA.
authors.forename: Ji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
authors.forename: Lusik
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cherkezyan
authors.affiliation: Section of Gastroenterology, Boston Medical Center/Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02118, USA.
authors.forename: Hemant K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA; Chemistry of Life Processes Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
authors.forename: Igal
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Szleifer
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA; Chemistry of Life Processes Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
authors.forename: Vadim
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Backman
keywords: (000.1430) Biology and medicine; (160.4760) Optical properties; (170.3660) Light propagation in tissues; (170.4580) Optical diagnostics for medicine