Multi-messenger optical microscopy

The possibility of integrating different light-matter interactions to form images and to correlate image data in optical microscopy is the starting point for the design and implementation of a brand new multi-messenger optical microscope. The multi-messenger microscope could represent a new paradigm in data collection and image formation with a potential high impact in biophysics exploiting the possibility to “tune” the microscope across a large, almost unlimited, range of spatial and temporal resolution. Confocal, multiphoton, image scanning and super resolved fluoresce microscopy can be comined with label free approaches, including multiphoton, SHG and Mueller matrix microscopy. The "field of battle" is related to for answering an open universal question in cellular and molecular biology: what are the local and global four-dimensional (x,y,z,t) chromatin structures in the nucleus that rule the compaction and function of the human genome in the interphase of cells and mitotic chromosomes? Within this scenario, expansion and light sheet microscopy will be considered as part of the multi-messenger approach. Liquid lenses, SPAD arrays and enforced deep learning approaches and brand new oriented detectors are key components for the development. The final “destination”of the multimodal collection of data is oriented to a “liquitopy” (liquid tunable microscopy) development [1]. [1] R. Won, “The super-resolution debate,” Nature Photonics, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 259–260, Apr. 2018.