An award is made to Montana State University to develop a scanning laser microscope that incorporates fast active focus control and adaptive aberration correction to provide high-quality three-dimensional microscopic images within thick living tissue or intact animals. Optical microscopy of intact tissues, coupled with the explosive advance of fluorescent markers that can be genetically encoded to specific cell types and structures, is an incredibly powerful tool for fundamental research into biological development and function. To realize the potential of this approach, however, it is necessary to improve the spatial and temporal resolution of deep-tissue imaging techniques. Microscopy of intact tissue suffers from low resolution, low contrast and poor efficiency due to deterioration of the beam focus deep in the specimen. The new microscope uses two types of deformable mirrors to control both the depth of focus and the quality of the images produced. In addition to the new microscope optics, the project also develops the necessary control algorithms and user interface to create an instrument that will be devoted to both research and research training in developmental biology and neuroscience.
The proposed instrument will facilitate research that is addressing fundamental questions about how nervous systems develop and function. While the project is specifically constructing a scanning laser microscope, the underlying technology can bring many of the same benefits to wide-field microscopes in the future. Active and adaptive optics have other potential applications, including small-format cameras and endoscopes and optical data storage read/write heads capable of high-speed focus and aberration correction with no moving lenses. The technology is therefore broadly relevant. In addition to its scientific impact the project embraces integration of research and education, training two engineering graduate students and providing cross-disciplinary research experience for several undergraduate engineering and bioscience students. A new course module will be developed that features the active/adaptive microscope as a platform to teach advanced biophotonic methods.
