Start: 28 January 2026 3PM
Location: G22 North-West Wing followed by a reception in the G07 North-West Wing.
Title: Cross-scale imaging with the Mesolens
Abstract: Since the earliest development of the microscope, optical systems have traditionally been designed around the limits of human vision. With the introduction of highly sensitive and advanced photodetectors, the eye is no longer the restricting factor, opening up fresh opportunities for imaging technologies and their application to biology.
We have created a novel objective lens, termed the Mesolens, which provides 4x magnification with a numerical aperture just under 0.5. The unusually large pupil size of this lens prevents its use with a standard microscope frame, so a dedicated imaging platform has been engineered around it. Like the original light microscope, the Mesolens proves useful across a broad spectrum of biomedical studies.
In this presentation, I will outline the Mesolens technology, illustrating its implementation as both a widefield and confocal imaging system. I will also describe emerging imaging modalities adapted for the Mesolens, including mesoscale light-sheet imaging and total internal fluorescence mesoscopy, and I will demonstrate how these approaches are yielding new biological insights from large tissue specimens. I will also present our latest work on 3D printed optics and how these are informing new experiments at the mesoscale.
Host: Prof. Alexandra Olaya-Castro