The new SciScan position save module

The 'position save module' is a new feature for Scientifica's open source multiphoton imaging software SciScan. It enables users to store multiple positions of their XY stage and/or Z focus motor and easily recall them as required for in vivo long term imaging studies.

Points of interest are saved relative to a user-defined origin, usually an easily identifiable landmark (e.g. a meningeal blood vessel pattern). A reference image for each position is also stored.

It is not unusual that the absolute position of the origin changes slightly between experimental days (e.g. due to the practicalities of the head-mounting mechanism), in which case the user can easily re-assign the absolute position of the origin landmark. All stored points of interest will automatically be corrected accordingly.

Furthermore, positions can be manually fine-tuned using the 'overlay' function, whereby the stored image and the current field of view are displayed as a Red/Green overlay image. This feature enables the user to easily re-position the current field of view to perfectly match images between two experiments.

Dr Sabine Liebscher

Dr Sabine Liebscher at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Munich, studies the interaction of glia cells and neurons, both on the functional and structural level in awake, behaving mice.

She uses transgenic mice, in which certain glia cell types are labelled with fluorophores or express a genetically encoded calcium indicator (to assess their activity by means of calcium imaging). Dr Liebscher performs chronic two-photon imaging of these mice, with Scientifica's resonant multiphoton imaging system. By monitoring structural and functional changes of their processes she can observe how these are affecting the response properties of neurons.

Dr Liebscher said: "When conducting chronic imaging experiments it is mandatory to easily recall the very same cells each and every time over the course of weeks and months. The position save module allows for an easy and quick way of achieving this. One only needs to find a fiduciary landmark and the coordinates of all other imaging regions are given relative to this origin and are hence immediately accessible. The superimposition of the initially stored image and the current view in the software enable an accurate repositioning."