Expediting 3D Analysis of Normal and Diseased Tissues

The current gold standard for tissue analysis, formalin fixation paraffin embedding (FFPE) followed by 2D thin sectioning, has been around for more than a century. And like any 100-year-old technology, it has key limitations.. So, ClearLight Biotechnologies is on a mission to significantly improve the field by automating nondestructive processing of tissue in 3D as a means to initially facilitate preclinical and clinical research applications. Laurie Goodman, PhD, CEO and board manager of ClearLight Biotechnologies, explained the process in an interview with MD+DI. ClearLight’s founder, Karl Deisseroth, MD, PhD, invented CLARITY at Stanford University, as he was trying to discover a way to understand neuronal pathways in the intact mouse brain, Goodman explained. “They needed a way to keep the brain intact and be able to study long-range neuronal projections and understand the differences between normal and diseased tissue," she said. “Prior to the invention of these 3D technologies, the researchers had to rely on trying to recapitulate a 3D structure by piecing together information from thinly sectioned brain slices.” The essential question that Deisseroth posed, Goodman said: “How do I lock in the biology of a tissue in 3D, yet remove what impedes the ability to image deeply into the brain? In the case of the brain, it’s...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Imaging Source Type: news