A Holographic Module for Multiphoton Microscopes in Neuroscience

 描述(申请人提供)：提高我们对大脑功能回路的理解对于我们对心理健康以及意识和计算等领域的理解具有重要和多方面的影响。在过去的十年中，出现了光学技术，它可以记录和控制目标神经元以用于脑成像，其中许多最好的技术使用具有空间光调制器(SLM)技术的多光子显微镜和复杂的算法来整形光并分析三维(3D)中越来越大的神经微电路。SLM可以任意塑造光的波前，从而在3D中产生多个独立的靶向光束，以控制神经元组，研究的神经元的最大数量主要受到SLM上的激光功率的限制。由于SLM可以模拟几乎任何光学元件，这些多功能工具在与显微镜结合时还提供了额外的功能，如自适应像差校正和远程对焦。尽管SLM有可能给神经科学中使用的显微镜带来革命性的变化，但由于难以将SLM整合到研究人员使用的昂贵的多光子显微镜平台中，以及将SLM控制集成到显微镜软件中的复杂性，SLM的采用仍然受到限制。在这项第二阶段的工作中，博尔德非线性系统公司(BNS)和Darcy Peterka博士以及哥伦比亚大学的Yuste实验室将通过为现有的多光子显微镜开发用户友好的插接式SLM模块以及将SLM完全集成到开源和商业显微镜软件中来解决这一障碍。这项工作将利用在第一阶段开发袖珍显微镜期间获得的知识，这是一种便携式、低成本的SLM显微镜，用于简单的体外神经科学研究，并整合来自一系列行业合作伙伴和神经科学领导者的密切反馈。作为这项工作的一部分，BNS还将提高SLM的速度、功率处理能力和可靠性，并利用他们的战略商业合作伙伴Meadowlark Optics来降低SLM成本和改善软件集成。该项目的成功完成将导致新的基于SLM的显微镜模块、独立于平台的软件集成和改进的SLM加入第一阶段袖珍显微镜，提供一套强大的工具，每个工具都有自己的影响和商业利基，能够改变神经网络的光学探索。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Improving our understanding of the functional circuitry of the brain has important and manifold implications for our understanding of mental health, as well as fields like consciousness and computing. In the last decade, optical techniques have arisen that allow both recording and control of targeted neurons for brain mapping, and many of the best of these techniques employ multiphoton microscopes with spatial light modulator (SLM) technology and complex algorithms to shape the light and analyze increasingly large neural microcircuits in three-dimensions (3D). SLMs can arbitrarily shape the wavefront of light to create multiple independently targeted beams in 3D to control groups of neurons, with the maximum number of studied neurons being limited primarily by the laser power on the SLM. Because the SLM can mimic nearly any optical element, these versatile tools also provide additional capabilities when incorporated into microscopes, such as adaptive aberration correction and remote focusing. Despite the potential for SLMs to revolutionize the microscopes used in neuroscience, their adoption remains limited by the difficulty in incorporating the SLM into the expensive multiphoton microscope platforms used by investigators and by the complexity of integrating SLM control into the microscopy software. In this Phase II effort, Boulder Nonlinear Systems (BNS) and Dr. Darcy Peterka and the Yuste laboratory at Columbia University will address this barrier by developing a user-friendly bolt-on SLM module for existing multiphoton microscopes along with full software integration of the SLM into both open-source and commercial microscopy software. This work will leverage knowledge gained during the Phase I development of the Pocketscope, a portable and low-cost SLM microscope for simple in vitro neuroscience studies, and integrate close feedback from a range of industry partners and leaders in neuroscience. As part of this work, BNS will also improve the speed, power handling, and reliability of the SLMs and utilize their strategic commercial partner, Meadowlark Optics, to bring down SLM cost and improve software integration. Successful completion of this project will result in the new SLM-based microscope module, platform- indpendent software integration, and improved SLM joining the Phase I Pocketscope to provide a suite of powerful tools, each with their own impact and commercial niche, capable of transforming the optical exploration of neural networks.