Dr. Douglas Shepherd, Arizona State University
October 28, 2021

Continued advancements in biomedical optical microscopy and fluorescent labeling techniques have enabled multi-dimensional visualization of biology in action at the single-molecule level. For example, multiple large-scale efforts are currently underway to create nanoscale spatial maps of thousands of individual RNA and protein species in millions of cells across all human organs. Many of the experiments across these efforts rely on multiplexed fluorescence molecular imaging. The quality and confidence of biological knowledge extracted from the resulting digital images depend on the molecular labeling strategy, the optical microscope’s design, and detector choices. Compromises are often necessary to achieve the required volume, imaging speed, number of molecules, samples, or other biologically driven experimental design criteria. Such compromises inevitably increase uncertainty when quantifying molecular identity and dynamics. Dr. Shepherd will discuss recent efforts to reduce uncertainty in quantitative molecular imaging through improvements to the optical methods and computational tools used for high-speed, high-resolution, multiplexed, and volumetric fluorescence molecular imaging. Dr. Shepherd’s efforts include a high numerical aperture oblique plane microscopy framework for 3D spatial transcriptomics in human tissue and a digital micromirror-based structured illumination microscopy framework for live-cell, sub-diffraction limited imaging.

 
 
To view Dr. Shepherd’s webinar, please click on the link below:
Scalable, High-Speed, 3D Imaging of Molecular Biology in Action