LIMPID stands for Lipid-preserving Index Matching for Prolonged Imaging Depth. It is a robust optical clearing method that makes tissue transparent without disrupting the lipid bilayers of cells, preserving lipophilic dyes and other fluorescent markers.

LIMPID is also the simplest and fastest optical clearing. There is only one step: immerse fluorescent labeled tissue in LIMPID clearing solution and it is ready for imaging. Even multi-millimeter thick samples (e.g., a whole quail embryo body shown below) can be cleared within hours and imaged all the way through with a conventional confocal microscope.

SLIME stands for Scatter Labeled Imaging of Microvasculature in Excised-tissue. It is a novel vascular mapping method based on optical coherence tomography (OCT). SLIME can map vascular networks in whole mount tissues down to the capillary level, millimeters deep and cubic millimeters per minute. SLIME also includes automated data processing and 3D statistical tools that quantifies the morphological properties of the vascular network.

SLIME imaging depth is restricted by depth of focus, but depth of focus is restricted by resolution. I solved the problem with a unique design of an compact extended focus OCT system, which illuminates with Bessel beam and detects with Gaussian focusing. This system has 5 um lateral resolution over >2 mm focal depth, significantly outperforming conventional OCT systems in many applications.