Microscopy seeing through tissue - CLARITY.pdfVIP

TECHNOLOGY FEATURE Microscopy: seeing through tissue Vivien Marx Tissue samples scatter light and shut out a deeper gaze. Tissue-clearing agents have changed that, but scientists must consider optimizing the optics when using these methods. To study the causes of heart attacks, German anatomist Werner Spalteholz developed a way to render heart tissue transparent with . a mixture of benzyl alcohol and methyl d e salicylate. He displayed 370 of his cleared v r e specimens at an exhibition in 1911. s e r s Spalteholz’s method was fashionable t h at the time, point out Philipp Keller from g i r the Janelia Farm Research Campus of the l l A Howard Hughes Medical Institute and . c Hans-Ulrich Dodt of the Vienna University n I , of Technology, who work on clearing a c i 1 r agents and microscopy techniques . Yet his e m approach did not have a strong scientific A e impact, even though researchers could have r u t applied the earliest versions of light-sheet y t a i