A low cost remote imaging platform for biological applications was developed. The "Picroscope" is a device that allows the user to perform longitudinal imaging studies on multi-well cell culture plates. Here we present the network architecture and software used to facilitate communication between modules within the device as well as external cloud services. A web based console was created to control the device and view experiment results. Post processing tools were developed to analyze captured data in the cloud. The result is a platform for controlling biological experiments from outside the lab.

Glioblastoma is a devastating form of brain cancer. To identify aspects of tumor heterogeneity that may illuminate drivers of tumor invasion, we created a glioblastoma tumor cell atlas with single-cell transcriptomics of cancer cells mapped onto a reference framework of the developing and adult human brain. We find that multiple GSC subtypes exist within a single tumor. Within these GSCs, we identify an invasive cell population similar to outer radial glia (oRG), a fetal cell type that expands the stem cell niche in normal human cortex. Using live time-lapse imaging of primary resected tumors, we discover that tumor-derived oRG-like cells undergo characteristic mitotic somal translocation behavior previously only observed in human development, suggesting a reactivation of developmental programs. In addition, we show that PTPRZ1 mediates both mitotic somal translocation and glioblastoma tumor invasion. These data suggest that the presence of heterogeneous GSCs may underlie glioblastoma's rapid progression and invasion.