mesoSPIM Version 5
What is the mesoSPIM project?
The mesoSPIM (mesoscale selective plane illumination microscopy) project aims at creating open-hardware microscopy platforms for imaging in cleared tissue. Core features of the current generation mesoSPIM setups are:
- compatibilty with all major clearing techniques including CLARITY and iDISCO
- large field-of-views, ranging from 2 to 20 mm using an Olympus MVX-10 macroscope
- dual-sided excitation
- optimized for fast screening of whole mouse brain samples (10-14 GB/brain/color at low magnification, up to 100 GB/brain/color at high magnification)
- near-isotropic sampling (5-6 µm in X,Y & Z) due to an axially swept lightsheet which leads to uniform z-resolution across the field-of-view
- modular sample holders and quick sample exchange
- large travel range (45 x 45 x 100 mm) to allow imaging of very large samples
Inspired by the openSPIM and openSPIN projects, the documentation for building and extending your own mesoSPIM is available here.
The mesoSPIM wiki
The mesoSPIM wiki provides documentation, setup, and usage instructions.
Who is the mesoSPIM project for?
- You are looking for a versatile imaging platform for cleared tissue that can be tailored to your needs.
- Research groups and imaging facilities with experience in building and supporting custom microscopes.
What are ideal imaging applications for a mesoSPIM?
- screening of large numbers of samples for clearing & labeling quality
- visualization of cell populations or other structures (blood vessels, plaques) in whole cleared organs
What are the mesoSPIM instruments less well suited for?
- imaging live samples (this is the domain of classical light-sheet microscopes)
- high-resolution imaging (<3 µm optical resolution), e.g. subcellular structures.