Physical characterization of hematopoietic stem cells using multidirectional label-free light scatterings

An experimental setup capable of measuring simultaneous 2D scattered light angular distribution from two directions to study cell morphology without the use of bio-labels was developed. Experiments with hematopoietic stem cells (CD34⁺ cells) show good agreement with detailed numerical simulations of light scattering. Numerical simulations and computer models of cells are used to identify physical features of cells with the largest scattering cross sections. This allows for determination of size, geometry of the nucleus and distribution of mitochondria in hematopoietic stem cells by means of our label-free method.