After years of development, researchers have managed to shrink two-photon microscopy into a device that can be mounted on rodents’ heads without impeding behaviour.
As Weijian Zong stared at a dazzling grid of green and blue brain cells under the microscope he had built, he felt — for a moment — unstoppable. “I felt that if we could make [this microscope] work, we can do anything we want,” he says. The moment, last March, called for an impromptu laboratory meeting, and a celebration.
With a custom-made lens that can follow the same cells continuously for up to one hour, or multiple times over weeks, the instrument produces much sharper images and can capture similar numbers of cells, if not more, than head-mounted, one-photon ‘miniscopes’, which are the current state-of-the-art for in vivo imaging in freely moving animals.
Fluorescence microscopy is based on a simple principle: when molecules absorb energy, they become electronically excited; as the molecules ‘relax’, they release light. Most microscopes are designed so that a single photon of light energy is sufficient to induce this reaction. But that can be problematic in thick tissues: as the light passes through the cellular layers, it is absorbed and scattered.
. But the design failed to gain much traction, Helmchen says, in part owing to the complexity of the system.At the time, Zong was a second-year engineering undergraduate working on lasers at Peking University in Beijing. But what he really wanted — his “final dream”, he says — was “to understand nature”. In 2012, he began doctoral studies with biomedical engineer Heping Cheng. Cheng’s lab at Peking University develops fluorescence-microscopy methods for biological research.
Deutschland Neuesten Nachrichten, Deutschland Schlagzeilen
Similar News:Sie können auch ähnliche Nachrichten wie diese lesen, die wir aus anderen Nachrichtenquellen gesammelt haben.
Astronaut on the ISS captures image of dazzling blue spheres floating above EarthAn astronaut aboard the ISS captured an image of mysterious blue spheres in the sky last year, but they not as mysterious as you think.
Weiterlesen »
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured an image of the sun ‘smiling’ | EngadgetThe James Webb Space Telescope isn't the only NASA mission capturing Halloween-themed images of celestial bodies..
Weiterlesen »
NASA captures 'jack-o'-lantern' image of the sunThe Twitter account for NASA's heliophysics department called it a 'smiling' sun. Other users saw the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from 'Ghostbusters,' a lion, a blobfish or various snack foods.
Weiterlesen »
NASA captures 'jack-o'-lantern' image of the sunThe Twitter account for NASA's heliophysics department called it a 'smiling' sun. Other users saw the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from 'Ghostbusters,' a lion, a blobfish or various snack foods.
Weiterlesen »
Ahead of Gravity Assist, NASA's Lucy Spacecraft Captures Images of Earth and MoonNASA’s Lucy made a close fly-by of planet Earth on October 16, as part of a gravity assist maneuver. Shortly before its closest approach, the spacecraft captured images of the Earth and Moon. On October 15, 2022, at a distance of 380,000 miles (620,000 km), NASA’s Lucy spacecraft captured this im
Weiterlesen »