Confocal microscopy is one of the most significant advances in optical microscopy. Its ability to virtually eliminate out-of-focus blurring permits optical sectioning of cells and thick transparent specimens. This technique is rapidly being adopted for the three-dimensional visualization of cellular and tissue organization.
The specific aims of this proposal are to determine the feasibility of using a slit scanning method and a CCD camera to produce optical sections of fluorescently stained biological specimens. The long term objective is to provide a rapid, low-cost confocal imaging instrument that can be attached to most conventional epi-illumination microscopes. To this end, an optical breadboard will be developed that incorporates a unique scanning device that simultaneously scans a specimen and a CCD camera. The simplicity of this design is expected to reduce the cost of the system, and the use of a CCD camera will provide the flexibility for confocal and conventional video imaging. The combination of these innovations will result in an affordable confocal microscope that can be used for research in cell biology, neurobiology, cancer, histology, pathology and molecular genetics. In addition, the cost of this instrument should make this technology more available for clinical and instructional applications.
