# High-content light sheet microscopy of cleared tissue for mental health research

> **NIH NIH S10** · BROAD INSTITUTE, INC. · 2021 · $327,553

## Abstract

Investigators at the Broad Institute are actively developing ever more precise molecular and genetic tools for
psychiatric research, harnessing powerful human model systems to understand the neurobiological results of
genetic risk factors; and developing new computational and experimental approaches for unbiased mapping of
mammalian brains. Large scale volumetric imaging of brain tissue would help achieve all these goals by enabling
rapid evaluation of the performance of new tool compounds, and unbiased investigation of brain-wide cell type
distributions and projection patterns. The ideal imaging technology for these experiments is selective plane
illumination microscopy, or light-sheet microscopy, which, when performed in cleared brain tissue can avoid
photobleaching of thick samples while achieving high volumetric scan rates. Large field-of-view light sheet
microscopes have been developed, but, despite the potential advantage of this technology, Broad Institute
investigators do not have access to such an instrument either at the Broad or at surrounding imaging facilities.
To address this need, an ultra large field-of-view light sheet microscope, the mesoSPIM, will be built in the Broad
Institute’s new Optical Profiling Platform according to clearly established specifications published by its inventors
(Voigt, et al. 2019). The instrument will be accompanied by tissue clearing accessories permitting mental health
researchers to clear, label, and image brain tissue in a highly automated and robust fashion. The OPP’s role at
the Broad Institute is specifically to support such custom-built, cutting-edge technology for the broader research
community. This is accomplished by a team of automation engineers, professional optics staff, computational
biologists, and academic trainees who work together to both develop the next generation of tools and support
existing technologies. This experienced team will build and manage the mesoSPIM for the benefit of the Broad
mental health research community at minimal cost to users. Implemented in this way, the mesoSPIM will rapidly
provide results characterizing the location and anatomical structure of newly identified cell types in the mouse
and non-human primate brains; and will provide large-scale cell type catalogs and distributions across the
mammalian brain.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10282021
- **Project number:** 1S10MH124736-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** BROAD INSTITUTE, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Samouil Farhi
- **Activity code:** S10 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $327,553
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10282021

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10282021, High-content light sheet microscopy of cleared tissue for mental health research (1S10MH124736-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10282021. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*