Gokul Upadhyayula
Making the invisible visible: imaging subcelluar dynamics in multicellular systems
Gokul Upadhyayula
Advanced Bioimaging Center, UC Berkeley
Much of what we know today about how life works comes from genetics and biochemistry – by grinding up cells to gain fragmented, fuzzy snapshots of life. And it’s difficult, without clearly seeing it in action, to understand how the interaction of trillions of inanimate molecules coalesces into the essence of life. So, how do you make visible the invisible? Lattice Light Sheet Microscopy is a transformative imaging technology which enables physiological observation of subcellular features over the relevant scales in space and time because of the wide resolution range and large volumetric acquisition capability. This new imaging method allows us to record dynamics at a scale of nanometers and milliseconds, determine their consequences at a scale of microns and hours, and visualize their long-term outcome at a scale of up to several millimeters over several days. I will introduce our next-generation microscope design– dubbed the “Swiss army knife microscope”, which combines several different modes of imaging and is designed to alleviate the tradeoffs related to resolution, speed, invasiveness and imaging depth, which precludes any single optical microscopy to function optimally for a diverse set of biological specimens.
