Making the Invisible Visible Ali Ertürk’s Journey in Transformative Biomedical Imaging
Imagine a world where the most intricate networks and processes within whole bodies are visible – down to the level of individual molecules. This is what Ali Ertürk’s pioneering research makes possible, opening up new possibilities for medicine and transforming our approach to understanding and treating diseases.
Imagine a world where the most intricate networks and processes within the human body are visible – down to the level of individual molecules. This is what Ali Ertürk’s pioneering research makes possible, opening up new possibilities for medicine and transforming our approach to understanding and treating diseases.
Professor Ali Ertürk is transforming medical research by making the invisible within the human body visible. His groundbreaking work offers unprecedented views of the body’s intricate structures down to individual molecules, potentially revolutionizing how we diagnose and treat diseases. As Director of the Institute for Intelligent Biotechnologies at Helmholtz Munich, Ertürk and his team are not only developing cutting-edge technologies but also redefining our understanding of biological processes. By integrating artificial intelligence, they aim to translate these insights into medical applications. This integration holds the potential to create faster, more accurate diagnostic tools, saving both time and resources. Ertürk’s innovations are paving the way for a future where diseases can be detected earlier and treated with greater precision, potentially reducing, or even eliminating the need for animal testing.
Breakthroughs in Imaging: DISCO Technologies
The roots of Ertürk’s research date back to his doctoral studies in the 2010s, focusing on spinal cord regeneration. “Many researchers studied animals with spinal cord injuries to find out how to treat them. But often, the results could not be replicated because we could only observe segments of the spinal cord nerves, the axons." This persistent challenge motivated him to seek a better method – one that would allow viewing biological structures in their entirety and reduce the need for animal testing.
His quest led to the development of 3DISCO – short for “3D Imaging of Solvent Cleared Organs” – during his PhD studies. This innovative technique allowed for much better visualization of axons and regeneration by making whole organs transparent. The process itself is groundbreaking: body tissue undergoes a series of chemical treatments to become transparent.
By making entire organisms transparent, researchers can investigate biological systems in their natural, three-dimensional structure and full complexity. “With 3DISCO, we could see the entire network of nerves in three dimensions, which was a significant advancement over traditional methods,” explains Ertürk.
Advancements in Tissue Transparency
However, 3DISCO had its limitations. It could only visualize existing fluorescent signals, which meant researchers couldn’t label specific proteins or molecules that lacked inherent fluorescence. To overcome this, Ertürk and his team developed WildDISCO shortly after 3DISCO. This technique enabled them to stain any molecule using antibodies, vastly expanding the scope of what could be visualized within transparent tissues.
With WildDISCO, a significant advantage was realized: conventional antibodies can now label specific proteins in tissue, traveling through the transparent tissue without the need for genetically modified animals. This simplifies and accelerates research significantly. “By introducing WildDISCO, we moved beyond the limitations of 3DISCO,” says Ertürk.
“Now, we could use antibodies to label any structure we wished to study, providing a more comprehensive view of biological systems.”
Applications and Case Studies: Obesity Research and Oncology
Obesity serves as a prime example of WildDISCO’s potential. To investigate its causes, researchers work with mice to understand the changes occurring throughout the body of an obese animal. Using WildDISCO, Ertürk and his team examine both normal and obese mice raised under identical conditions but were fed different diets. For example: “We make both types transparent and then analyze their nervous systems,” he explains. “How are the nerves connected under normal conditions, and how do they change in obese animals? With this technology, we can study any tissue structure and, for the first time, investigate a wide range of diseases in an unbiased manner.”
The application of WildDISCO extends to oncology, offering significant advantages in medical practice. In one study, researchers tracked metastases across an entire organism to understand how they spread. Ertürk explains:
“By combining imaging and molecular analysis, we can locate metastases in an animal’s body, isolate them, and examine their molecular structure. This is essential for developing targeted therapies that directly address the molecular causes of tumor formation.”
Innovations in Data Analysis: DELiVR
To harness the vast amounts of data generated by DISCO technologies, Ertürk’s team developed DELiVR, standing for “Deep Learning in Virtual Reality.” This technical platform integrates deep learning with virtual reality, allowing for the automatic recognition of cells or proteins in three-dimensional datasets.
Virtual reality transforms how scientists work with complex datasets: VR headsets enable visualization, rotation, and analysis of 3D image data, optimizing it for machine learning in AI models. This significantly enhances the accuracy and efficiency of Ertürk's AI models.
By exposing algorithms to structures from every conceivable angle, the AI gains a comprehensive understanding of target structures. Ertürk emphasizes the advantage of this 3D approach over traditional methods: “The AI truly knows how our target structures look from all possible perspectives. This makes it much more powerful than traditional methods that rely on two-dimensional images.”
Advancements in Spatial Proteomics
Ertürk´s research has also significantly advanced the development of spatial proteomics, which is according to the journal Nature Methods, the method of the year 2024. By combining fluorescent imaging with tissue transparency, spatial proteomics provides insights previously inaccessible with standard methods. Compared to existing techniques, spatial proteomics provides a more comprehensive and detailed analysis of protein distributions within whole organs, which could lead to more effective treatments and diagnostics. Ertürks technology allows researchers to analyze the distribution of proteins in intact human organs in three dimensions.
Reducing Animal Testing
Ertürk’s research not only enables early diagnosis and precise monitoring of diseases but also helps reduce the need for animal testing. His vision is a future where experiments on animals are replaced by digital simulations. This aligns with current ethical standards and has the potential to influence future regulations.
Impact and Visions
Peers in the scientific community widely acknowledge the transformative impact of Ertürk’s work. His innovations are seen as groundbreaking, revolutionizing the way complex biological systems are studied. The ability to visualize entire neural networks in their natural state is regarded as unprecedented, opening new avenues for research and advancing our understanding of fundamental biological processes.
“We possess unique data and technologies unparalleled globally. Now, we need to harness them to propel medical research into a new era."
Prof. Ali Ertürk
Ali Ertürk's Research on Long COVID
Did you know?
Ali Ertürk and his team have identified a mechanism that may explain the neurological symptoms of Long COVID. The study shows that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein remains in the brain’s protective layers, the meninges, and the skull’s bone marrow for up to four years after infection. This persistent presence of the spike protein could trigger chronic inflammation in affected individuals and increase the risk of neurodegenerative diseases. The team also found that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines significantly reduce the accumulation of the spike protein in the brain. However, the persistence of spike protein after infection in the skull and meninges offers a target for new therapeutic strategies.
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Latest update: January 2025.