Mapping the localization of increased c-FOS expression provides important insights into specific brain regions implicated in the responses to a range of stimuli. Researchers have used c-FOS protein up-regulation as an indicator for a variety of cellular activities. For instance, this marker is a useful proxy for measuring the mammalian response to various stimuli including… Continue reading c-FOS Brain Mapping: Challenges & Solutions
Neuroscientists studying major neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s diseases frequently use transgenic mouse models to evaluate disease progression and the impact of potential therapies. For instance, mice with overexpression of Alzheimer’s related proteins (e.g. amyloid precursor protein, APP) or mutations that trigger pathology (see Jankowsky and Zheng 2017) demonstrate the hallmarks of… Continue reading Neurological disorders & 3D Histology
Updated April 13, 2022: Dr. Ye’s lab recently published “HYBRiD: hydrogel-reinforced DISCO for clearing mammalian bodies.” Learn more about the Ye Lab at the Scripps Research Institute. LifeCanvas (LC): How did you arrive at your current neuroscience research interests? Li Ye (LY): I have a background in peripheral metabolism, so I was interested in how… Continue reading LifeCanvas Portraits: Dr. Li Ye
After tissue clearing and (optional) labeling, intact tissue needs to be index-matched with EasyIndex refractive index-matching solution. Afterwards, tissues will appear fully transparent and ready for imaging using the SmartSPIM light sheet microscope. To complete your workflow, LifeCanvas Technologies offers SmartAnalytics – a powerful machine learning analysis tool, specially designed for large 3D datasets. This… Continue reading 3D Phenotyping with the SmartSPIM Light Sheet Microscope
While developing our next generation of electrophoretic tissue-processing devices, SmartBatch+, we have also been hard at work developing improvements to tissue clearing techniques – specifically delipidating samples. As explained here, lipid membranes need to be removed to render a sample optically transparent for lightsheet imaging. Tissue clearing techniques have long since sought to maximize optical… Continue reading Tissue Clearing Techniques: Introducing Clear+
We discuss the second part of your tissue processing journey: active tissue clearing using SmartClear. SmartClear active clearing is rapid, uniform, and nondestructive, ensuring maximum sample integrity.
In this blog, we will provide key insights in the first step of this journey: tissue preservation using SHIELD. SHIELD is a tissue-gel hybridization method using polyfunctional, flexible epoxides to preserve tissue architecture, endogenous fluorescence, protein antigenicity, and nucleic acids.
Over 190 million people have now been infected with the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic with a total number of deaths passing 4.1 million worldwide. Multiple organs are affected by COVID-19, however, the lungs are the main site of disease.
As explained in several of our blogs, delipidation is a critical step in the tissue clearing process. Some form of lipid removal is present in almost all of the most popular clearing techniques, including CLARITY, iDISCO, SHIELD, and CUBIC. In the case of SHIELD and our technologies, the detergent Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS) is used… Continue reading How do detergents dissolve lipid membranes?
Recent advances in the tissue clearing field have unlocked the visualization of biology throughout whole organs. Tissue processing methods that render samples optically transparent can be combined with methods that enable the tissue-wide penetration of molecular probes such as antibodies. However, many of these techniques – which can include dehydration, delipidation, high temperature exposure, and… Continue reading Sample preservation with SHIELD for tissue clearing and 3D histology
