CAREER: Multi-aperture 3D microscopy for cellular-scale measurement over macroscopic volumes

一个奖项是作出杜克大学进行研究和创造相关的教育材料周围的新型数字光学显微镜。该项目将专门开发显微成像技术，可以高速捕获和快速处理大容量的3D视频。基于数据驱动优化方法的研究，该项目还将创建新的软件，以快速显示高分辨率的3D视频。为了提高高中生和大学生的科学素养，将通过推广计划和课程，制作并传播有关3D数字显微镜操作和应用的在线和实践课程形式的教育材料。该项目将特别关注由多尺度光学阵列组成的计算显微镜的开发。这样的系统使用一系列微型摄像机来以细胞级分辨率捕获1cm3体积内感兴趣的动态样本的数十个独特视角。协同优化的软件然后将采集的数据融合到复合3D视频帧中，用于后续的解释和分析。该项目旨在展示其新技术，通过实验以细胞分辨率监测模型生物的自然3D运动，同时记录这种自由运动期间的全脑荧光神经活动。这种新的能力可能会加速神经科学领域内基于模型生物的研究，以及在宏观组织体积内绘制细胞网络。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

An award is made to Duke University to perform research and create associated educational material surrounding novel digital optical microscopes. This project will specifically develop microscopic imaging technologies that can capture and rapidly process 3D video at high speeds over large volumes. Building upon research within data-driven optimization methods, this project will also create new software to rapidly display 3D videos at high resolution. Educational material in the form of online and hands-on lessons about the operation and application of 3D digital microscopes will be created and disseminated through outreach programs and within curriculum, with the aim of raising the scientific literacy of high-school and undergraduate students.This project will specifically focus on the development of computational microscopes that are comprised of multi-scale optical arrays. Such systems use a series of micro-cameras to capture dozens of unique perspectives of dynamic specimens of interest across a 1 cm3 volume at cellular-scale resolution. Co-optimized software then fuses the acquired data into composite 3D video frames for subsequent interpretation and analysis. This project aims to showcase its new technology by experimentally monitoring the natural 3D locomotion of model organisms at cellular resolution, while recording whole-brain fluorescence neural activity during such free movement. Such novel capabilities will likely accelerate model organism-based research within the fields of neuroscience, and the mapping of cellular networks within macroscopic cleared tissue volumes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.