Home Microscopy & Imaging A Guide to Build a Highly Inclined Swept Tile Microscope for Extended Field-of-view Single-molecule Imaging
Microscopy & Imaging JoVE (Open Access) Citable · DOI

A Guide to Build a Highly Inclined Swept Tile Microscope for Extended Field-of-view Single-molecule Imaging

DOI: 10.3791/59360-v
What you'll learn
  • Build a highly inclined swept tile (HIST) microscope from optical components
  • Configure detection and excitation paths with cylindrical lenses for single-molecule imaging
  • Perform tile imaging and HIST imaging to visualize labeled DNA and RNA molecules
Protocol

A detailed instruction is described on how to build a highly inclined swept tile (HIST) microscope and its usage for single-molecule imaging.

Difficulty
advanced
Total time
~8–16 hours (microscope assembly and alignment; varies with experience)

Steps

1
Complete preliminary microscope setup

Prepare optical table, mount core components, and establish foundational alignment before optical path configuration.

▶ 00:28
2
Establish detection path for fluorescence collection

Install filters, dichroics, and detectors to collect single-molecule fluorescence signals from the specimen.

▶ 01:11
3
Configure excitation path and cylindrical lenses

Align laser excitation lines and integrate cylindrical lenses to create the highly inclined illumination geometry.

▶ 02:14
4
Test tile imaging of specimen regions

Validate multi-region imaging by acquiring sequential tile scans to confirm coverage and signal quality.

▶ 04:59
5
Acquire highly inclined swept tile images

Execute HIST imaging protocol to generate extended field-of-view single-molecule data with reduced background.

▶ 05:53
6
Evaluate HIST microscopy results on biological samples

Demonstrate imaging performance on labeled DNA and RNA to confirm visualization of single molecules.

▶ 06:52
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