High Speed MultiChannel Timing System for Imaging

描述（由申请人提供）： 激光扫描，多光子荧光显微镜已成为可视化活组织的发育和细胞动力学的首选方法。最近已经开发了两种新的成像模式，其提供来自荧光信号的额外维度的数据。光谱成像可以允许分辨多个荧光探针，即使它们的光谱显著重叠。寿命成像可以提供关于探针的分子环境的信息，并且还具有进行精确的FRET测量的相当大的潜力，FRET测量是一种可以测量体内分子相互作用的技术。我们建议开发一个非常高速的时间相关光子计数系统，具有32个并行通道。FT被设计成与已经开发用于多光子显微术的光谱仪一起使用，因此可以以比用当前可用的仪器可以获得的光子计数率大一个数量级以上的光子计数率来获得同时的光谱和寿命数据。该系统使用最近上市的超高速定时器集成电路。拟议的系统应该是经济的生产，并正在设计，以便它可以很容易地添加到目前可用的激光扫描显微镜。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Laser scanning, multiphoton fluorescence microscopy has become the method of choice for visualizing developmental and cellular dynamics of living tissue. Recently two new imaging modalities have been developed that provide extra dimensions of data from fluorescence signals. Spectral imaging can allow multiple fluorescent probes to be resolved even if their spectra significantly overlap. Lifetime imaging can provide information about the molecular environment of a probe and also has considerable potential for making accurate FRET measurements, a technique that can measure molecular interactions in vivo. We are proposing to develop a very high-speed time-correlated photon counting system that has 32 parallel channels. ft is designed to be used with a spectrometer that has been developed for multiphoton microscopy so t h a t simultaneous spectral and lifetime data can be acquired at photon counting rates that are more than an order ot magnitude greater that what can be obtained with currently-available instrumentation. The system uses ultra high-speed timer integrated circuits that have recently become available. The proposed system should be economical to produce and is being designed so that it can be easily added to currently available laser scanning microscopes.