Trans-scale-scope to find rare cellular activity in sub-million cells

There are many phenomena in biological systems where less than 1% of rare cells trigger entire multicellular systems. In order to scientifically understand the mechanisms of these rare cell-driven systems, simultaneous observation of huge populations of cells is essential. It has been difficult to observe the dynamics of such phenomena with conventional microscopes. In this study, we propose a novel type of imager, trans-scale-scope, which allows us to observe cell dynamics with sub-cell resolution in a field of view greater than a centimeter. The imaging system is mainly composed of a hundred-megapixel image sensor and a macro-lens for full-size sensor. This method, which is the basement of the future imaging system named AMATERAS (A Multi-scale/modal Analytical Tool for Every Rare Activity in Singularity), realized observation of sub-million cells at the same time. By observing the macroscale-pattern formation process of , a model organism for studying fundamental aspects of cell-cell communication and chemotaxis, we have shown that the 0.1 % of rare cells triggered a stream of collective cell migration.