We are presenting the application of an optical and computational pipeline FAMOUS for revealing the presence of free viral particles named “virions”. The idea of such a protocol is to give rise to images of virions in their environment with a soft solution for recording the native image, contrary to the standard solution of imaging virions with electron microscopy (EM) for visualizing viral particles. The final aim of the current work is to observe free viral particles of SARS-CoV-2, the virions responsible for the worldwide pandemic of Covid-19. But such particles have diameters between 80 and 120 nm, a dimension smaller than the resolution limit of optical-only microscopy solutions. We have chosen to start with the biggest free virions, cytomegalovirus (CMV), a virus from the herpesvirus family also named “Human Herpes Virus 5”. Two kinds of cultures were involved: a fluorescent culture (BAD) and a label-free one (VHLE), both being collected from infected cell culture. VHLE virions were first observed after secondary immunostaining and concentrated with magnetic nanoparticles and then without labelling. The optical protocol rests on a standard solution of multiphoton microscopy combined with a computational strategy based on the point -spread-function (PSF) recordings, its mathematical modeling and the restauration of the image resting on the PSF model. A test with free viral particles of SARS-CoV-2 is led, delivering an optical visualization of the free-viral particles. The visualization of objects aggregates obtained in both situations confirm the relevance of the pipeline FAMOUS for imaging free virions.
KEYWORDS: Human vision and color perception, Particles, Viruses, Visualization, Clouds, Image visualization, Analytical research, Social sciences, Photonics, Visual optics
Viruses are unseen enemies which tend to disarmingly spread from person-to-person, therefore causing health damages and weakens the immunity system. Their invisibility give rise to various representations, projections and imaginations that allow laypeople to tame the unseen and intangible nature of viruses. For the first time to our knowledge, we are proposing a novel and uncommon scientific approach resting on the synergy between two scientific field: Technical Sciences & Medicine (TSM) with Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). Therefore, we present the results of our investigations concerning the evaluation of the social impact of the scientific image of free virions on a specific population, particularly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic: people over 60 years old. For this research, we have implemented two scientific imaging solutions to visualize the free viral particles of SARS-CoV-2. The first one is a standard solution of electron microscopy and the second one is an optical and computational solution of microscopy. The scientific representations of SARS-CoV-2 that we have proposed is in fact highly different from the mass media image that we can see everywhere. Concerning the targeted population, we have demonstrated that the scientific image has a negative impact on the population. Thus, the socially constructed representations of these invisible enemies have a preponderant role in driving laypeople’s emotional reactions and health-related behaviors. Therefore, imaging viruses remains a critical scientific effort that contributes irrevocably to alleviate laypeople’s misrepresentations of these invisible enemies.
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