Research

Volumetric imaging and light-sheet microscopy

This type of microscope is best-suited for fragile samples that would not tolerate too much light (especially UV). Light-sheet microscopes illumination the sample only in the plane in which they also acquire an image, making them extremely light efficient. This way of sample illumination is also extremely beneficial for 3D imaging. The mayor drawback of light-sheet microscopy is the complex optical setup with two objective lenses at placed at a right angle, which prohibits simple sample mounting. Together with our colleagues at the LMB in Cambridge (UK), UT Southwestern and Calico in the USA, and the University of Oslo, we strive to alleviate this caveat through single-objective light-sheet microscopy. A prime area of study is the role of mitochondria in heart tissue - our trusted experts are our locals Åsa Birgisdottir and Truls Myrmel.

Deep ultra-violet microscopy

Countless studies have looked at the interplay of organelles and their molecular dynamics - often employing fluorescence microscopy and lately also nanoscopy as the scientific tool of choice. Although powerful, a continued worry overshadowing findings and deductions from fluorescence microscopy is the possibility that the transfection-induced overexpression of fluorescent proteins skews the obtained results. Funded through a EU Marie-Curie grant (836355 ) we aim to help and image contextual information with label-free nanoscopy, while simultaneously enhancing image quality of specific but sparse fluorescently labelled proteins of interest through latest de-noising routines based on machine learning. How does this work? We operate at deep UV wavelengths, which intrinsically offer higher resolution. This spectral domain was previously unexplored in the life sciences due to the lack of dedicated optics and the destructive potential of high-energy photons. However, new imaging techniques originally developed for digital pathology can circumvent these problems and are thus expected to enable cell imaging in the 100-200 nm range and with excellent contrast (without labelling the sample!). 

This project started in 2019 and will run until 2021. It is conducted as open as possible - check out the project timeline!

Optical theory and new concepts

Microscopy development (sharper, faster, gentler, better) often starts by exploring the possibilities offered by new concepts. Together with colleagues and friends all over the world, from Cambridge University to UT Southwestern, we come up with these concepts. 

It is difficult to get funding for these things, so we work on them primarily in our spare time.

Sub-wavelength imaging of tissues using superresolution microscopy and nanoscopy

Optical superresolution imaging can bridge the gaps between electron microscopy and conventional optical microscopy. Depending on technique, optical superresolution microscopy sits in the middle for through-put, resolution, contrast, specificity, ease-of-use, and many other parameters. But not all imaging techniques perform equally well on the same tissue types and preparation methods, nor is the level of required detail for diagnoses constant. In collaboration with pathology and microscopy groups in Norway, Sweden, Germany, and England, we try to establish guidelines and protocols for best-practice. Method development is driven by Ida Opstad and application research is the focus of PhD student Luis Enrique Villegas Hernandez and funded through NanoPath2021, a BioTek2021 project granted to Prof Balpreet Ahluwalia. 

Photonic chip microscopy

Photonic chip microscopy is the main topic of Balpreet Ahluwalia at the UiT Nanoscopy group. His big goal is to swap complex microscopes and simple glass-slides with simple microscopes and complex photonic circuit waveguide slides. The Nanoscopy group is not alone in this aspiration, but has collaborated with groups in Cambridge and Zhejiang on different approaches for evanescent wave super-resolution imaging.

Algorithm development for advanced microscopy

Image processing is at the core of a range of advanced microscopy techniques. Find out more about the developments for easier parameter extraction with neural networks for Fourier ptychography, easier use of the fluctuation imaging technique MUSICAL through our handy MusiJ plugin for ImageJ/Fiji, or the joint Richardson-Lucy deconvolution approach to reconstruct structured illumination microscopy data. MUSICAL is the brain-child of Optics-Group member Krishna Agarwal, and our work on neural networks in Fourier ptychography was in collaboration with UiT's Dilip Prasad and our very capable (back-then intern) Suyog Jadhav from IIT Dhanbad, who is now also at UiT. SIM algorithm development was the main theme of Florian Ströhl's PhD work at Cambridge University in the group of Prof. Clemens Kaminski.