{"doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-01809-x","title":"Large-scale combinatorial optical barcoding of cells with laser particles","abstract":"The identification of individual cells is crucial for advancements in single-cell analysis. Optically readable barcodes provide a means to distinguish and track cells through repeated, non-destructive measurements. Traditional fluorophore-based methods are limited by the finite number of unique barcodes they can produce. Laser particles (LPs), which emit narrowband peaks over a wide spectral range, have emerged as a promising technology for single-cell barcoding. Here, we demonstrate the use of multiple LPs to generate combinatorial barcodes, enabling the identification of a vast number of live cells. We introduce a theoretical framework for estimating the number of LPs required for unique barcodes and the expected identification error rate. Additionally, we present an improved LP-tagging method that is highly effective across a variety of cell types and evaluate its biocompatibility. Our experimental results show successful barcoding of several million cells, closely matching our theoretical predictions. This research marks a significant step forward in the scalability of LP technology for single-cell tracking and analysis.","journal":"Light Science & Applications","year":2025,"id":522995,"datarank":0.24141568686511508,"base_score":1.6094379124341003,"endowment":1.6094379124341003,"self_citation_contribution":0.24141568686511508,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.24141568686511508,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":4,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9548,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":991816,"name":"Hao Yan","orcid":"0000-0002-5268-7153","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":350953,"name":"Geoffrey W. Abbott","orcid":"0000-0003-4552-496X","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":259609,"name":"Marissa Fahlberg","orcid":"0000-0002-2597-7147","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":908592,"name":"Sarah Forward","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":732325,"name":"Kwon‐Hyeon Kim","orcid":"0000-0002-2822-9240","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":991817,"name":"Yue Wu","orcid":"0000-0001-7680-9285","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":590416,"name":"Zhu Han","orcid":"0000-0002-6606-5822","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":720522,"name":"Sheldon J. J. Kwok","orcid":"0000-0001-7880-0401","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":908071,"name":"Seok‐Hyun Yun","orcid":"0000-0002-8176-9916","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":651117,"name":"Nicola Martino","orcid":"0000-0002-4639-2930","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":48,"raw_metadata":{"citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:49:58.707747Z","pmid":"40169572","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}