Light sheet fluorescence microscopy (or SPIM – selective plane illumination microscopy) was named Nature’s Method of the Year.

As demonstrated in the figure below, SPIM achieves optical sectioning by illuminating the sample with a thin sheet of light allowing the entire field of view to be imaged simultaneously.

Light sheet microscopy offers rapid imaging in three dimensions with low fluorophore bleaching and phototoxicity. We believe that researchers at the CRUK-CI would benefit from this technology in areas such as:

• Spheroid imaging
• High throughput imaging of large specimen (e.g. unsectioned tumor samples)
• Dynamic studies of live specimen (e.g. embryonic development)