Novel Methods for 3D Imaging and Quenching Tissue Autofluorescence

Background & Unmet Need

• Visualizing cellular structures in the global context of intact organs is critical for deciphering organ function
• However, imaging intact organs is impacted by the following challenges:
• Biological tissues are not transparent and scatter light
• Biological tissues are naturally auto-fluorescent
• These challenges limit the depth of imaging accessible by light microscopy techniques, and make it hard to resolve signal from noise during fluorescent imaging
• Unmet Need: Methods to enable improved light penetration and reduced autofluorescence of biological tissues

Technology Overview

• The Technology: Two complementary techniques to address current imaging limitations of 3D tissue
• Atacama Clear: Makes tissue optically transparent, enabling 3D imaging of whole organs
• Atacama Quench: Eliminates tissue autofluorescence to improve signal-to-noise ratio
• PoC Data:
• Atacama Clear: 50% greater signal-to-noise ratio than CUBIC during imaging of 1mm murine heart sections
• Atacama Quench: 10x more blood vessel signal compared to TrueBlack during immunostaining of a murine brain section
• Tissue preparation protocols are easy to follow and do not require the use of toxic solvents

Technology Applications

• Optical clearing of tissues for superior 3D imaging of intact biological tissues
• Elimination of autofluorescence to enable visualization of biological markers in basic science and clinical imaging studies

Technology Advantages

• Atacama Clear does not require use of toxic solvents or dehydration with common alcohols
• Atacama Clear clears tough fibrous tissue and preserves fluorescent reporter protein signals
• Atacama Quench eliminates autofluorescence throughout the fluorescent light spectrum
• Atacama Quench preserves tissue integrity and is compatible with follow-up IF studies