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Contact us about products and services or help in
securing grant funding to work with us.
We offer next-generation quantitative 3D histology services using our cutting edge tissue clearing techniques and high performance, custom software packages
Unrivaled speed and flexibility allows us to rapidly generate assays
Image filtering and analysis modules are fully modular and analysis workflows can be infinitely complex graphs. This allows us to quickly add new modules to meet client needs.
Integrated machine learning classifiers allow us to generate assays with unprecedented noise rejection and the ability to separate cell types within the same fluorescence channel.
Cluster computing as well as advanced memory handling and analysis routines built from the ground up allow for scaling and rapid processing.
Exploration of the brain basis for behavior necessitates the development of new, anatomically rigorous methods for capturing activity patterns across the whole brain. We have developed methods to measure the expression of immediate-early genes (IEGs) at single cell resolution throughout the brain.
Some IEG products such as cFos, are widely used to mark neuronal activity, but are also engaged by cAMP elevations, neurotrophins and other paracrine factors. Whereas, the IEG product Npas4 is exquisitely regulated by Ca2+-dependent signaling downstream of neuronal activity.
We can measure both of these gene products throughout the brain to help decipher the brain-wide signatures associated with neuronal activity and other signaling mechanisms in response to genetic, pharmacological or behavioral manipulations.
Microglia play a crucial role in the neuroinflammatory processes underling a wide array of brain pathologies and are increasingly becoming targeted by drug discovery efforts.
Current traditional histological methods for studying microglia are limited to measurements in specific brain areas and miss out on a whole-brain perspective on disease development or drug effectiveness.
Using multiple microglia markers, we have developed methods to identify microglia throughout the brain and measure their inflammatory state with both molecular and shape metrics. Our whole-brain signatures of microglial activation and proliferation provide researchers with a complete view of the inflammatory state of the brain.
The expression of β-amyloid in the brain is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Despite the recent failures in drug discovery aimed at targeting amyloid plaques, there is strong reason to believe that this is a failure of drug discovery efforts rather than biological hypotheses, and there is still a strong research effort in understanding the role of amyloid deposits in Alzheimer’s Disease.
Our methodology offers an unprecedented brain-wide assay for the research community to understand the global effects of cellular and pharmacological manipulations of β-amyloid deposits in the brain.
At Translucence we use a modified version of iDISCO+ to clear tissues. As neuroscientists, we typically clear mouse and rat brains. However, our methods can make virtually any tissue from any species optically clear.
When tissues are clear and diffraction of light ceases to be an insurmountable problem, then windows are opened into the 3D structure of intact tissues.
No matter what your biological question, we are open to working with you to apply our technology to provide complete picture of your biology.
VideoAsk about possible projectsWe use the ZEISS Lightsheet Z.1 microscope for our tissue imaging. The superior optics of the Zeiss system have long been used by developmental biologists to image live organisms in aqueous solutions.
However, researchers wanting to look at large, cleared tissues have had to resort to other systems for their light sheet imaging needs.
We have developed the Mesoscale Imaging System, which adapts the ZEISS Lightsheet Z.1 microscope to be able to image large, optically cleared tissues with unprecedented speed and resolution.
Ask about possible projects
Imaging brains in 3D can provide award-winning images, but what information can it really give a scientist?
We can use cutting-edge methods to optically clear brains, and our Mesoscale Imaging System coupled with the Zeiss Lightsheet Z.1 provides beautiful 3D images. But quantitative spatial anatomy is in its infancy.
We have developed the Translucence Terabyte Tool Kit (3TK) to provide machine learning-enabled processes that scan 3D images of whole brains to identify the location of cells and provide shape metric and immunostaining intensity information for 3D High-Content Imaging.
Ask about possible projectsContact us if your company needs to enlist Translucence to help secure grants, funding, application submissions, letters of support, etc
info@translucencebio.com
