Ph.D. Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea
Abstract: We present quantitative whole-embryo imaging of live mouse embryos for systematic 3D feature analysis of preimplantation development. To this end, we introduce low-coherence holotomography, a method capable of 3D refractive index imaging of unlabeled live embryos. Leveraging the measured 3D embryo tomograms, we identified cellular and subcellular 3D features associated with the morphology, spatial arrangement, and protein concentration of internal structures. Using these features, we then set out to establish a predictive model for blastocyst formation, achieving an accuracy of 95.71 %. This work highlights the potential of these features as noninvasive biomarkers of embryo quality and provides 3D subcellular insights into preimplantation development.
Funding Source: National Research Foundation of Korea grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (RS-2024-00442348); a grant of the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the KHIDI funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare (HR22C1605)
