172 / 2024-06-14 16:34:02

A broad-wavelength multimodal fluorescence microscope

fluorescence microscopy, fluorescence lifetime, multimodal imaging

Fluorescence microscopy is a technique for imaging structures in cells or tissues that emit specific wavelengths, with good specificity and high resolution, and has been widely used in life science research. Fluorescence lifetime imaging is another strategy different from the traditional fluorescence intensity imaging, which provides the lifetime information of fluorescent molecules to obtain the microenvironmental changes in the vicinity of the target, offering reference information other than intensity. Recently, the demand for fluorescence imaging in  biology has become more diversified, with the imaging wavelength expanding from the visible light to the near-infrared in the early days, and the imaging modality shifting from a single fluorescence intensity imaging to the combination of intensity imaging and lifetime imaging in various modalities, in order to achieve the purpose of acquiring multi-dimensional information in multiple wavelength bands. However, traditional fluorescence microscopes often only have limited imaging wavelength regions and  modalities, which cannot meet this demand. Therefore, we have developed a multimodal fluorescence microscope with an imaging band covering 400-1700 nm, and imaging modalities including wide-field imaging (Vision Wide-field and NIR II Wide-field) and point-scanning imaging (Confocal Microscopy in Vision and NIR II, Two Photon Microscopy and Second Harmonic Generation). and can obtain intensity and lifetime information. To the best of our knowledge, this instrument is the most feature-rich fluorescence imaging microscope currently available, and is expected to provide even more powerful options to the toolbox of life science research.