A multimodal adaptive optical microscope for in vivo imaging from molecules to organisms

Area of Science:

• Biophysics
• Microscopy
• Systems Biology

Background:

• Observing biological systems requires imaging across vast spatial and temporal scales.
• Current microscopes lack versatility and suffer from optical aberrations in complex samples.
• Multimodal imaging is crucial for comprehensive biological understanding.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a reconfigurable microscope, MOSAIC, integrating multiple advanced imaging techniques.
• To enable noninvasive imaging across diverse biological scales and sample types.
• To overcome limitations of specialized microscopes and sample-induced aberrations.

Main Methods:

• Integration of light-sheet, label-free, super-resolution, and multiphoton microscopy.
• Incorporation of adaptive optics for aberration correction.
• Development of a reconfigurable platform for versatile sample handling.

Main Results:

• MOSAIC enables noninvasive imaging of subcellular dynamics in cultured cells and live organisms.
• Achieved nanoscale mapping of molecular architectures in millimeter-scale tissues.
• Performed structural and functional neural imaging in live mice.

Conclusions:

• MOSAIC provides an integrated platform for broad biological investigation.
• Facilitates correlative studies across biological scales within the same specimen.
• Advances the capability for noninvasive, multi-modal, multi-scale biological imaging.