{"title":"Near-infrared spatiotemporal color vision in humans enabled by upconversion contact lenses","authors":"Yuqian Ma, Yunuo Chen, Sheng Wang, Zi-Han Chen, Yuanwei Zhang, Ling Huang, Xinxin Zhang, Fei Yin, Yunxuan Wang, Mingzhu Yang, Zhanjun Li, Kai Huang, Xin Fang, Zishuo Li, Minghong Wang, Wenhui Liu, Jia-Nan Li, Longfei Li, Hang Zhao, Min Wei, Tian Xue","doi":"10.1016/j.cell.2025.04.019","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Humans cannot perceive infrared light due to the physical thermodynamic properties of photon-detecting opsins. However, the capability to detect invisible multispectral infrared light with the naked eye is highly desirable. Here, we report wearable near-infrared (NIR) upconversion contact lenses (UCLs) with suitable optical properties, hydrophilicity, flexibility, and biocompatibility. Mice with UCLs could recognize NIR temporal and spatial information and make behavioral decisions. Furthermore, human participants wearing UCLs could discriminate NIR information, including temporal coding and spatial images. Notably, we have developed trichromatic UCLs (tUCLs), allowing humans to distinguish multiple spectra of NIR light, which can function as three primary colors, thereby achieving human NIR spatiotemporal color vision. Our research opens up the potential of wearable polymeric materials for non-invasive NIR vision, assisting humans in perceiving and transmitting temporal, spatial, and color dimensions of NIR light.","PeriodicalId":9656,"journal":{"name":"Cell","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":45.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Cell","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.04.019","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Humans cannot perceive infrared light due to the physical thermodynamic properties of photon-detecting opsins. However, the capability to detect invisible multispectral infrared light with the naked eye is highly desirable. Here, we report wearable near-infrared (NIR) upconversion contact lenses (UCLs) with suitable optical properties, hydrophilicity, flexibility, and biocompatibility. Mice with UCLs could recognize NIR temporal and spatial information and make behavioral decisions. Furthermore, human participants wearing UCLs could discriminate NIR information, including temporal coding and spatial images. Notably, we have developed trichromatic UCLs (tUCLs), allowing humans to distinguish multiple spectra of NIR light, which can function as three primary colors, thereby achieving human NIR spatiotemporal color vision. Our research opens up the potential of wearable polymeric materials for non-invasive NIR vision, assisting humans in perceiving and transmitting temporal, spatial, and color dimensions of NIR light.
期刊介绍:
Cells is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal that focuses on cell biology, molecular biology, and biophysics. It is affiliated with several societies, including the Spanish Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SEBBM), Nordic Autophagy Society (NAS), Spanish Society of Hematology and Hemotherapy (SEHH), and Society for Regenerative Medicine (Russian Federation) (RPO).
The journal publishes research findings of significant importance in various areas of experimental biology, such as cell biology, molecular biology, neuroscience, immunology, virology, microbiology, cancer, human genetics, systems biology, signaling, and disease mechanisms and therapeutics. The primary criterion for considering papers is whether the results contribute to significant conceptual advances or raise thought-provoking questions and hypotheses related to interesting and important biological inquiries.
In addition to primary research articles presented in four formats, Cells also features review and opinion articles in its "leading edge" section, discussing recent research advancements and topics of interest to its wide readership.