Electrically tunable lens speeds up 3D orbital tracking

Paolo Annibale, Alexander Dvornikov, Enrico Gratton

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

3D orbital particle tracking is a versatile and effective microscopy technique that allows following fast moving fluorescent objects within living cells and reconstructing complex 3D shapes using laser scanning microscopes. We demonstrated notable improvements in the range, speed and accuracy of 3D orbital particle tracking by replacing commonly used piezoelectric stages with Electrically Tunable Lens (ETL) that eliminates mechanical movement of objective lenses. This allowed tracking and reconstructing shape of structures extending 500 microns in the axial direction. Using the ETL, we tracked at high speed fluorescently labeled genomic loci within the nucleus of living cells with unprecedented temporal resolution of 8ms using a 1.42NA oil-immersion objective. The presented technology is cost effective and allows easy upgrade of scanning microscopes for fast 3D orbital tracking.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2181-2190
Number of pages10
JournalBiomedical Optics Express
Volume6
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 May 2015

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