Crystal ribcage opens black box of a functioning lung to optical imaging.

The article discusses the development of a transparent "crystal" ribcage by researchers to enable real-time, high-resolution optical imaging of a functioning lung, ranging from whole organ to single-cell scales. It states that this platform overcomes existing imaging limitations, providing new insights into lung physiology and diseases like cancer, and fibrosis, representing a significant advancement from research at the Boston University Center for Multiscale & Translational Mechanobiology.