Unleashing Optics and Optoacoustics for Developmental Biology Articles uri icon

publication date

  • November 2015

start page

  • 679

end page

  • 691

issue

  • 11

volume

  • 33

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0167-7799

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1879-3096

abstract

  • The past decade marked an optical revolution in biology: an unprecedented number of optical techniques were developed and adopted for biological exploration, demonstrating increasing interest in optical imaging and in vivo interrogations. Optical methods have become faster and have reached nanoscale resolution, and are now complemented by optoacoustic (photoacoustic) methods capable of imaging whole specimens in vivo. Never before were so many optical imaging barriers broken in such a short time-frame: with new approaches to optical microscopy and mesoscopy came an increased ability to image biology at unprecedented speed, resolution, and depth. This review covers the most relevant techniques for imaging in developmental biology, and offers an outlook on the next steps for these technologies and their applications.

subjects

  • Biology and Biomedicine

keywords

  • plane illumination microscopy; light sheet microscopy; projection tomography; in-vivo; fluorescence microscopy; localization microscopy; stimulated emission; diffraction limit; resolution limit; cell