Building a light sheet microscope

Sammanfattning

This thesis presents the design and construction of a light-sheet fluorescencemicroscope intended for educational use. Inspired by the open-sourcedescSPIM project, the microscope was built to allow students to gain practicalexperience with optical systems and microscopy principles. The systemenables three types of imaging experiments: visualization of the light-sheetitself for resolution assessment, imaging of small samples in cuvettes, andimaging of larger cleared samples in an index-matched chamber. Keychallenges included developing functional control software and compensatingfor refractive index mismatches during imaging. The microscope wassuccessfully used to produce 3D reconstructions of biological samples,demonstrating both the strengths and limitations of the system. The setupemphasizes practical learning, offering students valuable insights into samplepreparation, light-sheet alignment, and volumetric image acquisition.