Iterative expansion microscopy
US11408890B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 14, 2016 |
| Grant date | Aug 9, 2022 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 6, 2037 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01N2001/307
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
The present invention leverages the techniques for expansion microscopy (ExM) to provide improved high-throughput super-resolution whole-organ imaging methodology to image protein architectures over whole organs with nanoscale resolution by using high-throughput microscopes in combination with samples that have been iteratively expanded more than once, in a method referred to herein as “iterative expansion microscopy” (iExM). In the ExM method, biological samples of interest are permeated with a swellable material that results in the sample becoming embedded in the swellable material, and then the sample can be expanded isotropically in three dimensions The process of iteratively expanding the samples can be applied to samples that have been already expanded using ExM techniques one or more additional times to iteratively expand them such that, for example, a 5-fold expanded specimen can be expanded again 3- to 4-fold, resulting in as much as a 17- to 19-fold or more linear expansion.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.