Imaging and spectroscopy with scattered light from the tissue to chromatin scale

In this talk, we will discuss how scattered light can be used for noninvasive detection of invisible pre-cancer in organs such as the esophagus or pancreas which seem to have little in common. Nevertheless, since pre-cancer in many organs is characterized by certain common microscopic changes in the epithelial cells, such as the increase in nuclear size and nuclear density, we will show that light scattering signatures of those pre-cancers are quite similar, allowing for early cancer imaging and detection without the need for external markers. Light scattering signatures can also be used for sensing subnuclear and subcelluar structures, such as chromatin packing, organelle organization, and characterization of cell-derived exosomes. Nanoscale changes in the nuclear structure have been shown to play a critical role in genetic and transcriptional alterations and are a hallmark of neoplasia. We will discuss how the approach based on the combination of confocal microscopy and spectroscopy