Tim N. Ford

Fluorescence endomicroscopy with structured illumination

We present an endomicroscope apparatus that utilizes structured illumination to produce high resolution (approximately 2.6 microm) optically sectioned fluorescence images over a field of view of about 240 microm. The endomicroscope is based on the use of a flexible imaging fiber bundle with a miniaturized objective. We also present a strategy to largely suppress structured illumination artifacts that arise when imaging in thick tissue that exhibits significant out-of-focus background. To establish the potential of our endomicroscope for preclinical or clinical applications, we provide images of BCECF-AM labeled rat colonic mucosa.

Quantitative phase imaging using a partitioned detection aperture

We present a technique to quantitatively image the phase of thin quasi-transparent samples using extended source incoherent illumination and off-axis detection apertures. Our technique is achromatic and polarization independent, requires no active elements, and can be readily adapted to standard bright-field microscopes. We demonstrate our technique by quantitatively reconstructing the phase of cheek cells and a microlens. The light efficient, single-shot nature of our technique enables phase imaging at frame rates that are camera limited.

Optically sectioned fluorescence endomicroscopy with hybrid-illumination imaging through a flexible fiber bundle

We present an endomicroscope apparatus that exhibits out-of-focus background rejection based on wide-field illumination through a flexible imaging fiber bundle. Our technique, called HiLo microscopy, involves acquiring two images, one with grid-pattern illumination and another with standard uniform illumination. An evaluation of the image contrast with grid-pattern illumination provides an optically sectioned image with low resolution. This is complemented with high-resolution information from the uniform illumination image, leading to a full-resolution image that is optically sectioned. HiLo endomicroscope movies are presented of fluorescently labeled rat colonic mucosa.

Phase-gradient microscopy in thick tissue with oblique back-illumination

Phase-contrast techniques, such as differential interference contrast microscopy, are widely used to obtain morphological images of unstained biological samples. The transillumination geometry required for these techniques restricts their application to thin samples. We introduce oblique back-illumination microscopy, a method of collecting en face phase-gradient images of thick scattering samples, enabling near-video-rate in vivo phase imaging with a miniaturized probe suitable for endoscopy.

Optically sectioned in vivo imaging with speckle illumination HiLo microscopy

We present a simple wide-field imaging technique, called HiLo microscopy, that is capable of producing optically sectioned images in real time, comparable in quality to confocal laser scanning microscopy. The technique is based on the fusion of two raw images, one acquired with speckle illumination and another with standard uniform illumination. The fusion can be numerically adjusted, using a single parameter, to produce optically sectioned images of varying thicknesses with the same raw data. Direct comparison between our HiLo microscope and a commercial confocal laser scanning microscope is made on the basis of sectioning strength and imaging performance. Specifically, we show that HiLo and confocal 3-D imaging of a GFP-labeled mouse brain hippocampus are comparable in quality. Moreover, HiLo microscopy is capable of faster, near video rate imaging over larger fields of view than attainable with standard confocal microscopes. The goal of this paper is to advertise the simplicity, robustness, and versatility of HiLo microscopy, which we highlight with in vivo imaging of common model organisms including planaria, C. elegans, and zebrafish.

Fast optically sectioned fluorescence HiLo endomicroscopy

We describe a nonscanning, fiber bundle endomicroscope that performs optically sectioned fluorescence imaging with fast frame rates and real-time processing. Our sectioning technique is based on HiLo imaging, wherein two widefield images are acquired under uniform and structured illumination and numerically processed to reject out-of-focus background. This work is an improvement upon an earlier demonstration of widefield optical sectioning through a flexible fiber bundle. The improved device features lateral and axial resolutions of 2.6 and 17 μm, respectively, a net frame rate of 9.5 Hz obtained by real-time image processing with a graphics processing unit (GPU) and significantly reduced motion artifacts obtained by the use of a double-shutter camera. We demonstrate the performance of our system with optically sectioned images and videos of a fluorescently labeled chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) in the developing G. gallus embryo. HiLo endomicroscopy is a candidate technique for low-cost, high-speed clinical optical biopsies.

Fast volumetric phase-gradient imaging in thick samples.

Oblique back-illumination microscopy (OBM) provides high resolution, sub-surface phase-gradient images from arbitrarily thick samples. We present an image formation theory for OBM and demonstrate that OBM lends itself to volumetric imaging because of its capacity for optical sectioning. In particular, OBM can provide extended depth of field (EDOF) images from single exposures, by rapidly scanning the focal plane with an electrically tunable lens. These EDOF images can be further enhanced by deconvolution. We corroborate our theory with experimental volumetric images obtained from transparent bead samples and mouse cortical brain slices.

Video-rate imaging of microcirculation with single-exposure oblique back-illumination microscopy

Abstract. Oblique back-illumination microscopy (OBM) is a new technique for simultaneous, independent measurements of phase gradients and absorption in thick scattering tissues based on widefield imaging. To date, OBM has been used with sequential camera exposures, which reduces temporal resolution, and can produce motion artifacts in dynamic samples. Here, a variation of OBM that allows single-exposure operation with wavelength multiplexing and image splitting with a Wollaston prism is introduced. Asymmetric anamorphic distortion induced by the prism is characterized and corrected in real time using a graphics-processing unit. To demonstrate the capacity of single-exposure OBM to perform artifact-free imaging of blood flow, video-rate movies of microcirculation in ovo in the chorioallantoic membrane of the developing chick are presented. Imaging is performed with a high-resolution rigid Hopkins lens suitable for endoscopy.

Widefield fluorescence sectioning with HiLo microscopy

HiLo microscopy is a widefield fluorescence imaging technique that provides depth discrimination by combining two images, one with non-uniform illumination and one with uniform illumination. We discuss the theory of this technique and a variety of practical implementations in brain-tissue imaging and fluorescence endomicroscopy.

Phase microscopy with oblique fields

Phase contrast microscopy has had a resurgence of interest during the past decade, particularly owing to the development of methods that are quantitative and fast. I will present two such methods developed in our lab.