# Light Sheet Microscope for Multi-View Imaging of Living and Optically Cleared Samples

> **NIH NIH S10** · HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL · 2024 · $646,616

## Abstract

Project Summary / Abstract
This shared instrument proposal requests funding for a Zeiss Light Sheet 7 to be incorporated into the MicRoN
(Microscopy Resources on the North Quad) core at Harvard Medical School. Imaging of whole organs and thick
tissue samples in a more physiological context has become the next frontier in many areas of biomedical
research. Traditionally, researchers rely on extracting information about cellular components within a two-
dimensional section of tissue instead of the entire volume of the sample. Because most of components in tissues
and organisms are not contained in a 2D plane, quantitative volumetric imaging would enhance our
understanding of their development, structure and function. Due to its high imaging speed, light efficiency, low
photo-toxicity, and inherent optical sectioning capabilities, light-sheet microscopy has emerged as a powerful
tool to accomplish this mode of imaging in both live and fixed, optically cleared samples. Unlike many instruments
currently available, the one we are proposing to purchase provides a great deal of versatility and flexibility in
applications, ranging from live cell imaging of organisms and organs/organoids to imaging fixed thick samples
that have been optically cleared with either water-based (expansion, CLARITY, CUBIC) or solvent-based (iDisco)
methods. The proposed instrument will enhance a broad range of biomedical research, including studies of
immune cell function and interactions with tissues, pathogenesis and neurodevelopmental disorders, gene
therapy for hearing and balance disorders, zebrafish phenotypes and the developmental biology of new model
organisms.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10853453
- **Project number:** 1S10OD036362-01
- **Recipient organization:** HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
- **Principal Investigator:** Paula de la Milagrosa Montero Llopis
- **Activity code:** S10 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $646,616
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-15 → 2025-08-14

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10853453

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10853453, Light Sheet Microscope for Multi-View Imaging of Living and Optically Cleared Samples (1S10OD036362-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10853453. Licensed CC0.

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