Multimodal high throughput slide scanner with laser speckle illumination and optical sectioning

• Subject Area: Neurosciences
• Term: Funded in 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 567166517

Here, we apply for a multimodal slide scanner with laser speckle illumination, optical sectioning, and high throughput capability for use in preclinical tissue-based research. The use case is to enable flexible application to automatically digitize tissue sections stained (e.g., using immunofluorescence) at high speed, with a large amount of image information ("high content data"), high resolution and reduced light scatter, and to store the resulting image and metadata in a structured manner. For fluorescence applications, excitation should cover the entire spectrum of visible light with the option to choose between speed of acquisition or image quality, particularly in thick tissue sections (>25 µm). Out-of-focus light should be suppressed using optical sectioning. Furthermore, standard fluorescence, light field, dark field and polarization imaging will be required to flexibly cater to all slide-based imaging needs. The system will be placed in a multiuser environment and therefore caters to all types of histological specimen, flexible imaging applications, high throughput and accessibility to novice and expert users alike.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Multimodaler Slide Scanner mit Laser-Speckle-Beleuchtung und hoher Durchsatzkapazität
• Instrumentation Group: 5042 Mikroskope für Hochdurchsatz und Screening
• Applicant Institution: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
• Leader: Privatdozent Dr. Philipp Mergenthaler