Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Thanks to the CTOnews.com netizen Mr. Air, Xiao Zhanche's clue delivery! CTOnews.com, February 28, according to Xinhuanet, the Shenzhou 15 astronauts recently carried out an on-orbit verification experiment using a two-photon microscope independently developed by China and achieved success. According to the two-photon microscope project team of the space station, this is the first known world to use a two-photon microscope to obtain three-dimensional images of the skin and superficial dermis of astronauts during space flight. it provides a new tool for astronaut in-orbit health monitoring research in the future.

Two-photon microscopic imaging technology is a nonlinear optical imaging technology based on two-photon absorption and fluorescence excitation. it has the characteristics of high resolution, strong three-dimensional tomography ability, large imaging depth and so on. However, CTOnews.com learned that the traditional two-photon microscope system is so large that it can not meet the stringent requirements of in-orbit experimental instruments and equipment for reliability, volume, weight, impact and vibration performance, so it has not been possible to realize the operation and application of two-photon microscopic imaging technology in the space station.

In order to solve this problem, Cheng Heping, director of the National Biomedical Imaging Science Center of Peking University, led a team in 2017 to successfully develop a miniaturized two-photon microscope with a probe weighing only 2.2 grams, laying the foundation for the development of a two-photon microscope on the space station. In 2019, with the strong support of China manned Space Engineering Office, Cheng Heping and Wang Aimin of Peking University, Li Yingxian of China Astronaut Research and training Center and Feng Lishuang of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics jointly established the two-photon microscope project team of the space station, with Cheng Heping as the general manager. The project team overcame a number of technical problems of microscope miniaturization and successfully developed a two-photon microscope for the space station in September 2022.

On November 12, 2022, the two-photon microscope of the space station was successfully transported to the Chinese space station aboard the Tianzhou V cargo spacecraft, becoming the world's first two-photon microscope to enter space. Recently, the Shenzhou 15 astronauts completed the installation, debugging and first imaging test of the two-photon microscope, and successfully obtained two-photon microscopic images of the astronaut's face and forearm skin in orbit.

The two-photon microscope on the Chinese space station can clearly show the three-dimensional distribution of astronaut skin structure and cells with submicron resolution, and has the ability of non-invasive microscopic imaging of the surface structure and composition of the skin. The imaging results showed that the three-dimensional structures of the skin, such as stratum corneum, granular layer, spinous layer, basal cell layer and superficial dermis, were clearly discernible.

Cheng Heping said that this is an important achievement in the manufacturing level of China's high-end precision optical instruments. This on-orbit verification experiment has achieved a number of firsts, such as the normal operation of the two-photon microscope in orbit for the first time in the world, the normal operation of femtosecond laser in orbit for the first time in China, and the information of cellular structure and metabolic components of astronauts observed in orbit for the first time in the world. "these not only provide new tools and methods for astronaut in-orbit health monitoring research at the cellular and molecular level, but also provide important technical means for using the Chinese space station platform to carry out brain science research in the future," he said. "

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