Abstract

We introduce a random access parallel (RAP) imaging modality that uses a novel design inspired by a Newtonian telescope to image multiple spatially separated samples without moving parts or robotics. This scheme enables near simultaneous image capture of multiple petri dishes and random-access imaging with sub-millisecond switching times at the full resolution of the camera. This enables the RAP system to capture long duration records from different samples in parallel, which is not possible using conventional automated microscopes. The system is demonstrated by continuously imaging multiple cardiac monolayer and Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) preparations.

Data availability

All data generated during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Mishal Ashraf

    Department of Physiology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Mohanan Sharika

    Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Byu Ri Sim

    Department of Physiology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Anthony Tam

    Department of Physiology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Kiamehr Rahemipour

    Physiology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Denis Brousseau

    Department of Physics, Physical Engineering and Optics, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Simon Thibault

    Department of Physics, Physical Engineering and Optics, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Alexander D. Corbett

    Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
    For correspondence
    A.Corbett@exeter.ac.uk
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-1645-5475
  9. Gil Bub

    Physiology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
    For correspondence
    gilbub@gmail.com
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-5304-0036

Funding

National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (RGPIN-2018-05346)

  • Gil Bub

National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (RGPIN-2016-05962)

  • Simon Thibault

Funders support enabled acquisition of equipment used in this study and also funded summer student stipends for undergraduate authors.

Copyright

© 2021, Ashraf et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

Metrics

  • 4,536
    views
  • 453
    downloads
  • 16
    citations

Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.

Download links

A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.

Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)

Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)

Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)

  1. Mishal Ashraf
  2. Mohanan Sharika
  3. Byu Ri Sim
  4. Anthony Tam
  5. Kiamehr Rahemipour
  6. Denis Brousseau
  7. Simon Thibault
  8. Alexander D. Corbett
  9. Gil Bub
(2021)
Random access parallel microscopy
eLife 10:e56426.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.56426

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.56426

Further reading

    1. Neuroscience
    Sainan Liu, Jiepin Huang ... Yan Yang
    Research Article

    Social relationships guide individual behavior and ultimately shape the fabric of society. Primates exhibit particularly complex, differentiated, and multidimensional social relationships, which form interwoven social networks, reflecting both individual social tendencies and specific dyadic interactions. How the patterns of behavior that underlie these social relationships emerge from moment-to-moment patterns of social information processing remains unclear. Here, we assess social relationships among a group of four monkeys, focusing on aggression, grooming, and proximity. We show that individual differences in social attention vary with individual differences in patterns of general social tendencies and patterns of individual engagement with specific partners. Oxytocin administration altered social attention and its relationship to both social tendencies and dyadic relationships, particularly grooming and aggression. Our findings link the dynamics of visual information sampling to the dynamics of primate social networks.

    1. Neuroscience
    Sergio Casas-Tinto, Nuria Garcia-Guillen, María Losada-Perez
    Short Report

    As the global population ages, the prevalence of neurodegenerative disorders is fast increasing. This neurodegeneration as well as other central nervous system (CNS) injuries cause permanent disabilities. Thus, generation of new neurons is the rosetta stone in contemporary neuroscience. Glial cells support CNS homeostasis through evolutionary conserved mechanisms. Upon damage, glial cells activate an immune and inflammatory response to clear the injury site from debris and proliferate to restore cell number. This glial regenerative response (GRR) is mediated by the neuropil-associated glia (NG) in Drosophila, equivalent to vertebrate astrocytes, oligodendrocytes (OL), and oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs). Here, we examine the contribution of NG lineages and the GRR in response to injury. The results indicate that NG exchanges identities between ensheathing glia (EG) and astrocyte-like glia (ALG). Additionally, we found that NG cells undergo transdifferentiation to yield neurons. Moreover, this transdifferentiation increases in injury conditions. Thus, these data demonstrate that glial cells are able to generate new neurons through direct transdifferentiation. The present work makes a fundamental contribution to the CNS regeneration field and describes a new physiological mechanism to generate new neurons.