Quantum monitoring of cellular metabolic activities in single mitochondria
Abstract Free radicals play a vital role in all kinds of biological processes including immune responses. However, free radicals have short lifetimes and are highly reactive, making them difficult to measure using current methods. Here, we demonstrate that relaxometry measurement, or T1, inherited from the field of diamond magnetometry can be used to detect free radicals in living cells with subcellular resolution. This quantum sensing technique is based on defects in diamond, which convert a magnetic signal into an optical signal, allowing nanoscale magnetic resonance measurements. We functi...