ArticleScience advances2026
Broadband backscattering confocal microscopy enables label-free 3D live cell nanoscale sensitive imaging.
Article in Science advances, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Label-Free Optical Sensor for Real-Time Monitoring of Insulin Secretion from Single Human Pancreatic Islets.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
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9 authors.
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Abstract
Fluorescence microscopy is a cornerstone of biological research. However, fluorescent labeling is challenging in live cells and is constrained by photobleaching and phototoxicity. Label-free methods allow cells to be studied in their native state, but most techniques have poor contrast, lack 3D capability, rely on complex optics, or fail to provide structural information. We present here broadband backscattering confocal microscopy (BBCM), which employs a broadband supercontinuum laser and collects backscattered light in a confocal geometry using a photomultiplier tube. Broadband illumination averages out size-dependent oscillations that confound monochromatic backscattering. This eliminates blind spots and intensity ambiguities, allowing all scatterers to be visible, with the signal increasing approximately linearly with scatterer size. BBCM is easy to retrofit to standard confocal microscopes, requires no specialized optics, and is straightforward for nonspecialists. It enables high-contrast, label-free 3D imaging of live cells with size sensitivity to subcellular structures without employing custom optics or complex data processing.
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