Swept, Confocally-Aligned Planar Excitation (SCAPE) Microscopy

This technology is an imaging method that uses a spacer for high resolution and a relatively large field of view for real-time imaging of live specimens.

Unmet Need: Real-time and high-resolution imaging tools

There has been great interest in the development of microscopy technologies to study the cellular function and structure of model organisms. While there have been great advancements in three-dimensional (3D) imaging and microscopy tools, current methods are limited in their ability to perform real-time imaging with high resolution of 3D specimens.

The Technology: Improved microscopy for high throughput and real-time imaging

This technology is a swept, confocally aligned planar excitation (SCAPE) microscopy method that uses a spacer for an immersion objective lens using a UV-curable polymer, which allows for fast volumetric imaging of living samples. Included in this method are optical components, a scanning element, alignment mirrors, and a plurality of light sources that each have output beams for their respective wavelengths. This SCAPE method has increased high-throughput volumetric imaging with a wide range of view of many tissue types across model organisms such as the live mouse brain, whole drosophila embryos, adult C. elegans, and whole bodies of zebrafish larvae. In addition to time imaging of live specimens, this technology can also be customizable depending on research needs.

Applications:

• Real-time high-speed imaging of live specimens
• Volumetric 3D imaging of large intact tissues
• Multicolor imaging for histological sample analyses and tracing studies
• High-throughput imaging for engineering and materials research applications
• Deep tissue imaging

Advantages:

• Customizable and flexible imaging
• Accessible
• Large field of view
• Less photodamage

Lead Inventor:

Elizabeth M. C. Hillman, Ph.D.

Patent Information:

Patent Pending(US20230408803)

Related Publications:

• Patel KB, Liang W, Casper MJ, Voleti V, Li W, Yagielski AJ, Zhao HT, Perez Campos C, Lee GS, Liu JM, Philipone E, Yoon AJ, Olive KP, Coley SM, Hillman EMC. High-speed light-sheet microscopy for the in-situ acquisition of volumetric histological images of living tissue. Nat Biomed Eng. 2022 May; 6(5): 569-583.

• Voleti V, Patel KB, Li W, Perez Campos C, Bharadwaj S, Yu H, Ford C, Casper MJ, Yan RW, Liang W, Wen C, Kimura KD, Targoff KL, Hillman EMC. Real-time volumetric microscopy of in vivo dynamics and large-scale samples with SCAPE 2.0. Nat Methods. 2019 Oct; 16(10): 1054-1062.

• Bouchard MB, Voleti V, Mendes CS, Lacefield C, Grueber WB, Mann RS, Bruno RM, Hillman EM. Swept confocally-aligned planar excitation (SCAPE) microscopy for high speed volumetric imaging of behaving organisms. Nat Photonics. 2015 Feb; 9(2): 113-119.

Tech Ventures Reference:

• IR CU21199, CU21251

• Licensing Contact: Kristin Neuman