Light-sheet microscope

• Subject Area: Medicine
• Term: Funded in 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 457581122

Light-sheet microscopy to monitor 3D protein distribution in large biological samplesThe 3D recording of proteins in entire organ systems represents a technical challenge. With the development and optimization of fixation and clearing processes, it was achieved that the refraction indices of the tissue and the surrounding solvent are the same. This makes it possible to illuminate a larger object (e.g. entire mouse brain, heart, etc.) from the side with fluorescent light (shaped as a light-sheet) and to detect the signals. With this arrangement, this larger object can be captured in its entirety by the light-sheet completely scanning the object. The tissues can be stained beforehand using immunohistological methods. This makes it possible to record the distribution of proteins in the 3D structure without making histological sections. This method will be used in this project to record neural activity patterns (e.g. c-fos expression) or neural connections in the entire brain, to describe the 3D distribution of neural proteins and immune cells in the brain. Applications are being extended to peripheral organs, e.g. heart. Data processing represents a challenge of this method. Very large amounts of data are recorded (up to 500 GB per brain), which then will be assigned e.g. to 3D reference tissues (brain). The signals will also be quantified. No such device is currently available at the Mainz research site. The acquisition will enable to apply this new method to numerous projects and will be a big asset to the Mainz research community.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Lichtblatt-Mikroskop
• Instrumentation Group: 5040 Spezielle Mikroskope (außer 500-503)
• Applicant Institution: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
• Leader: Professor Dr. Beat Lutz