The same microscope can image larger samples, including a whole mouse brain (1 cm^3), and supports hybrid low- and high-resolution modes. Low-resolution imaging gives a full overview, while high-resolution mode enables multi-ROI isotropic submicron imaging on the same specimen.

The system also supports larger samples at higher RI (e.g., 1.56), such as mouse cochlea, which are dipped directly into immersion media to image neurites and reconstruct individual connections between spiral ganglion neurons and inner hair cells across the entire cochlea.

The microscope can image fragile samples like cleared zebrafish, RI-matched to 1.47 and held in a glass capillary, allowing isotropic sub-micron-resolution imaging of the vasculature.

Together, these optical innovations enable us to cover a wide range of biological samples, including entire zebrafish vasculature and mouse organs such as the cochlea and brain vasculature.

We achieved isotropic sub-micron resolution with an axially sweeping light sheet running near the camera’s top frame rate. A high-frequency closed-loop system stabilizes the remote-focusing voice-coil motion, enabling 100 fps while preserving sub-micron resolution over a large FOV.

Unlike other light-sheet systems that use the remote-focusing arm only to sweep the sheet, we found it can also correct distortions such as field curvature. By using a concave instead of a flat mirror, we compensate curvature and expand the usable FOV across the full RI range.

Our microscope uses an air objective lens for illumination. To make the air objective suitable for creating a diffraction-limited light sheet in high-RI media, we use an off-the-shelf meniscus lens with a surface curvature matched to the NA of the illumination lens across all refractive indices.

Our compact, high-speed light-sheet fluorescence microscope is built from off-the-shelf optics to achieve 850 nm isotropic resolution for cleared samples up to 1 cm3, across refractive indices from 1.33 to 1.56.

Attend the talk “From ciliary beating to muscular locomotion: Developmental origins of nervous systems in the annelid Platynereis dumerilii” in the “neural circuit evolution” symposium presented by @metteh-thorsager.bsky.social

Visit poster #30 on “Pallium-encoded valence-specific chemosensory amplification of eye-body coordination in larval zebrafish” by @samuelsy20.bsky.social

Big thanks to the organisers @paveltomancak.bsky.social @bundschuhst.bsky.social @cuencam15.bsky.social @ereynaud.bsky.social @olafselchow.bsky.social!

The course showcased both commercial and home-built light sheet microscopes, plus hands-on introductions to image processing and analysis software. A fantastic two weeks surrounded by old colleagues and new collaborators.

For Zebrafish, we imaged vascular morphogenesis and the extracellular matrix with Vipin Balan, Joaquin Abugattas Nunez Del Prado, and Li-Li Li.

In Hydra, we visualized tissue dynamics during regeneration with Emma Martinelli.