Granted Patent B2

US 12,730,295 · App. 19/270,278 · Granted Sep 8, 2026

Inventors: Mark Pratt (Boston, MA); Riley Shamloufard (Boston, MA); Ye Fu (Boston, MA)

Assignee: Stellaromics, Inc.

G02B21/22G01N21/6458G01N21/6486G02B21/0032G02B21/0076G02B21/0084G02B21/16G02B21/367

Abstract

Claims (25)

1 . A method of volumetric imaging of a sample, the method comprising:

(a) providing:

(i) said sample disposed adjacent to a stage, wherein said sample has a thickness of at least 10 micrometers (μm); and

(ii) an imaging module configured to create an image, said imaging module comprising an objective lens configured to transmit photons from one or more object planes within said sample to one or more sensors in optical communication with said objective lens;

(b) moving said objective lens relative to said sample while simultaneously using said imaging module, thereby acquiring a series of images corresponding to a plurality of object planes within said sample, wherein said series of images comprises at least 25 images; and

(c) processing said series of images, thereby extracting signals from said series of images within 120 seconds subsequent to said acquiring said series of images.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said series of images correspond to a plurality of adjacent object planes within said sample.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said one or more sensors comprises a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) sensor.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said one or more sensors comprises an array of pixels.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said imaging module further comprises a confocal filter.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said imaging module further comprises a light source, wherein said light source provides light sheet illumination.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said sample has a thickness of at least 100 μm.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said series of images comprises at least 100 images.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein (c) is performed within 50 seconds of acquiring said series of images.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said sample is a tissue sample.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein said tissue sample is a cleared and hydrogel stabilized tissue sample.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein (b) comprises imaging a region within said sample multiple times.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said signals are fluorescence signals.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein said fluorescence signals provide information related to expression of ribonucleic acid (RNA) in said sample.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein said fluorescence signals provide information related to expression of at least 500 RNA in said sample.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said series of images comprises a video.

17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said one or more sensors comprises a rolling shutter sensor.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein (b) comprises illuminating said sample with a laser.

19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein (b) comprises acquiring said series of images at a rate of at least about 100,000,000 voxels/second on each of two or more wavelength channels.

20 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said sample comprises at least 500,000 cells.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (4)

References Cited (400)