Facility

ALICe

State-of-the-art advanced lightsheet imaging center

Lightsheet microscopes can reveal the 3D anatomy of entire small organs. They image brain tissue down to individual neurons and offer unprecedented maps of nervous system structure and function.

Revealing 3D anatomy with lightsheet microscopy

ALICe, the Advanced Lightsheet Imaging Center, integrates a series of innovative fluorescence microscopy tools in a single pipeline to image whole organs with custom-built microscopes at high spatial and temporal resolution.

The multidisciplinary ALICe team unites expertise from physics, cell biology, neuroscience and engineering, and joins forces with research teams around the world to image and draw insights into the central and peripheral nervous systems, innervation of organs including the brain and heart as well as human brain samples. Another focus area is brain and spinal cord organization for researchers working to restore movement after paralysis or to investigate neuronal networks involved in cognition, pleasure and drug addiction.

Unlike traditional microscopy in which specimens are cut in slices with a blade before being viewed on a slide under a microscope, lightsheet microscopes optically slice samples with a sheet of light. This optical sectioning captures slivers of image without damaging the sample. The images are then combined to reconstruct a detailed three-dimensional image of a whole organ or specimen.

The ALICe pipeline

ALICe’s capabilities cover the entire pipeline, from sample preparation to image capture and post-processing. A variety of samples can be imaged from organoids to whole organs, labelled with genetically encoded fluorescent proteins or immuno-labeled with fluorescent antibodies.

Transparent brain in cuvette is placed in the lightsheet microscope by green gloved hand

A primer on lightsheet microscopy

1) Sample preparation: Tissue clearing for entire large samples

2) Custom-built lightsheet image acquisition: high spatial and temporal resolution imaging

3) Image and data analysis including 3D data-set exploration in virtual reality

microscope image of brain in Alice Slider After — Whole CNS lightsheet imaging of motor circuit and 3D surface rendering (Asboth et al. 2018). Courtine Lab, EPFL

microscope image of brain in Alice Slider Before — Whole CNS lightsheet imaging of motor circuit and 3D surface rendering (Asboth et al. 2018). Courtine Lab, EPFL

Building connections, one cell at a time
ALICe partnerships

6

Countries

17

Institutions

40

Laboratories

Prof. Holtmaat - University of Geneva

Prof. Courtine - École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Prof. Lüscher - University of Geneva

Prof. Deisseroth - Stanford University

Prof. Tomer - Columbia University

Prof. Helmchen and Fabian F. Voigt - University of Zurich

Prof. Chatelier - University of Poitiers

Prof. Passeraub - hepia

Prof. Goubran - University of Toronto

We are always looking for innovative collaborations to advance the techniques, hardware and software related to ALICe.

ALICe Scientific Coordinator: Stéphane Pagès, PhD

Microscopy Facility Manager: Laura Batti, PhD

If you would like to find out more, please contact us: microscopy@wysscenter.ch

This image of virally labelled neurons in the brain helps reveal the cellular connectivity between the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus. These two regions are involved in memory processing and play a crucial role in the study of neurodegenerative disorders. Image courtesy of Noémie Mazaré, Giovanni Carriero, Roberta de Ceglia, Laura Solanelles, Bilian Xiong, Prof. Ludovic Telley and Prof. Andrea Volterra at the University of Lausanne.

Prof. Holmaat, Unige

"Recent advances in microscopy have propelled the neurosciences into the era of connectomics, now allowing us to study single neurons with their synaptic connections in the whole brain."

Prof. Daniel Huber, Unige

"The work at ALICe allowed us to reveal the distribution and anatomy of sensory receptors with unprecedented resolution and specificity. I was stunned by the quality of the images."