Abstract
Researchers at the University of Central Florida have invented a fluorescence microscope that provides better real-time imaging of single molecules than conventional fluorescence technologies such as HILO (highly inclined and laminated optical sheet) microscopy. By enabling a much higher signal-to-background-ratio and a wider field-of-view (FOV), the UCF Highly Inclined Swept Tile (HIST) microscope delivers thinner illumination with greater than 40x FOV; thus providing clearer visualization of single molecules across a greater than 130µm x 130µm FOV. With such capabilities, the innovation can benefit applications such as super-resolution imaging, single-molecule tracking, and smFISH-based high-throughput gene expression profiling.
Technical Details
The UCF HIST technology is a fluorescence microscope that uses a highly inclined tile beam to scan over a biological sample object. The system spatially filters fluorescence emission from the sample through a programmable confocal slit into an sCMOS camera supporting a rolling shutter mode. The tile beam is synchronously swept with the readout of the camera to facilitate the rejection of background. The system provides for decoupling of the total imaging area from the beam thickness, which solely depends on the width of the tile beam, enabling a thinner illumination (high sectioning capability) and larger FOV for video-rate, live-cell imaging. The technology can be easily implemented onto a standard inverted microscope.
Partnering Opportunity
The research team is looking for partners to develop the technology further for commercialization.
Stage of Development
Prototype available.
Benefit
Higher signal-to-background-ratioWider FOV compared to current techniquesProvides high contrast images, high resolution, fast imaging speed, single-molecule sensitivity Market Application
High-resolution fluorescence microscopy for biomedical applicationsSingle-molecule fluorescence imagingHigh-throughput transcriptomicsSuper-resolution fluorescence imagingPublications
Extended field-of-view single-molecule imaging by highly inclined swept illumination
Optica , Vol. 5, No. 9 September 2018A
Guide to Build a Highly Inclined Swept Tile Microscope for Extended Field-of-view Single-molecule Imaging
J. Vis. Exp. , (146), e59360, doi:10.3791/59360 (2019)
Brochure
