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Deep Volumetric Super‐Resolution Imaging in Thick Biological Specimens With Sparse Scanning SIM

An, Sha; Guo, Xuhong; Cai, Zhongxia; Lei, Yunze; Wen, Kai; Suo, Hongfei; Kong, Xiaoyu; Nienhaus, Gerd Ulrich ORCID iD icon 1,2,3; Gao, Peng
1 Institut für Angewandte Physik (APH), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
2 Institut für Nanotechnologie (INT), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
3 Institut für Biologische und Chemische Systeme (IBCS), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

Abstract:

High-resolution fluorescence microscopy deep inside thick, live specimens remains a major challenge due to scattering and limited penetration depth. Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) is widely used for fast super-resolution imaging, yet its sensitivity to scattering strongly restricts volumetric applications. Here we present sparse scanning SIM (SS-SIM), a variant for deep imaging that integrates rapid laser beam scanning with pixel-addressed intensity modulation and sCMOS detection. SS-SIM operates with either one- or two-photon excitation and achieves a spatial resolution of ∼150 nm, and maintains a 1.6/1.7-fold (lateral/axial) resolution enhancement over wide-field microscopy throughout the available imaging depth limited by the working distances of our water-immersion objectives (300/600 µm), enabling volumetric visualization of dense biological samples. By combining simplicity, robustness, and super-resolution performance, SS-SIM expands the applicability of SIM to thick tissues, organoids, and small organisms, providing a practical route to high-contrast volumetric imaging in complex biological environments.


Verlagsausgabe §
DOI: 10.5445/IR/1000192812
Veröffentlicht am 30.04.2026
Cover der Publikation
Zugehörige Institution(en) am KIT Institut für Angewandte Physik (APH)
Institut für Biologische und Chemische Systeme (IBCS)
Institut für Nanotechnologie (INT)
Publikationstyp Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Publikationsmonat/-jahr 05.2026
Sprache Englisch
Identifikator ISSN: 2198-3844
KITopen-ID: 1000192812
Erschienen in Advanced Science
Verlag Wiley Open Access
Band 13
Heft 25
Vorab online veröffentlicht am 23.02.2026
Schlagwörter deep super-resolution imaging, resonant scanning, structured illumination microscopy
Nachgewiesen in OpenAlex
Scopus
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