Biobeam - Multiplexed wave-optical simulations of light-sheet microscopy

Martin Weigert, Kaushikaram Subramanian, Sebastian T. Bundschuh, Eugene W. Myers, Moritz Kreysing

Abstract: Author summary Modern microscopes permit to acquire high quality images of large fields of view, which is the result of a decade-long development of computer aided optical design. However, this high image quality can only be obtained at the very surface of biological specimens: when trying to penetrate deeper into biological tissues, light scattering by cells rapidly leads to severe image blur and computers have so far been unable to model the process by which light forms images in such turbid optical environments. We developed a software that allows one to simulate how microscopes record images deep inside scattering biological samples. Our software reproduces a wide range of optical effects that underlie image blur in tissues. Hence strategies to improve image quality within three-dimensional samples can now be systematically tested by computers. Specifically, our software reproduces intricate wave-optical effects that have recently been proposed as strategies to gain perfect images even in the most turbid environments.This provides the chance for a new generation of microscopes, in which computer models guide the imaging process to enable highest possible resolution even deep inside biological specimens.