Data-driven discovery from 5-dimensional microscopy of living things

Our ability to ask questions about living systems has been limited by our ability to measure their holistic, real-time structure, function and dynamics. When slow imaging speeds and challenging sample geometries necessitate complex preparations, perturbations and manipulations, or repeated induction of phenomena, we are not observing the system in its natural, evolving state. Recent developments in high-speed, multi-spectral, 3D single-objective light sheet microscopy have made it possible to image large regions, whole brains and even whole organisms in real-time, from 3D cell cultures to C. elegans worms, fruit flies and zebrafish larvae and the brains of living mice. Fluorescent reporters can provide real-time read-outs of cellular function, while tracking algorithms can simultaneously extract complex real-time behaviors. The next challenge is then exploring and interpreting the resulting TB-scale real-time data for scientific discovery. This talk will summarize recent high-speed 3D imaging advances combined with data-driven approaches to analyzing and interpreting physiological phenomena in a range of living systems.