Patrick Westermann, Autor bei Microendoscope

See NeuroDeep® in action at 2 Demo Days in October

Okt. 20, 2023 | exhibitions, jobs, technology

Experience the developmental system of the world’s first holographic microendoscope in action in Magdeburg or Vienna.

An exciting time for DeepEn’s team. We proudly present the result of 2 years of work during 2 demo sessions at the end of October. The minimally invasive microendoscope NeuroDeep goes on tour. Busy times!

Demo #1 at 3rd Day of Intravital Microscopy – 23.10 and 24.10 in Magdeburg

This event is organized by the team “Intravital Microscopy” of German Bioimaging, an association of experts to connect practical performers of intravital microscopy and exchange techniques, methods, tips, and tricks. As such, it is very fortunate that this year, the Day of Intravital Microscopy is held at our partner institute in Magdeburg, the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, short LIN. Not only will two members of the DeepEn team show you the current performance of our NeuroDeep test system, but our co-founder Prof. Dr. Tomas Cizmar will also give a presentation about the the photonic technology behind it.

Demo #2 at IEEE Sensors 2023 – 30.10. in Vienna

If you are in Vienna and joining the IEEE Sensors, you can meet us for a demonstration on the 30th of October. The IEEE Sensors brings together almost 1000 researchers, engineers, and industry players for one of the most impactful gatherings with a focus on sensors and sensor systems. Optical fibres have been used for a long time as sensors, for example, to measure heat, deformation, or the concentration of chemicals. However, the possibility of using fibres for imaging should be very new to many in the community. We are looking forward to the feedback from the experts after our demonstration of our minimally invasive deep brain imaging system.

Excited for the first Demo

The functionality of the system has already been tested in different Neuroscience labs all over Europe. Now we want to demonstrate it to the critical eye of the public in order to collect even more valuable feedback. And of course, there is always excitement involved. Will the intricate optoelectronic heart of NeuroDeep work under the unpredictable and suboptimal conditions during a live demo? We are willing to try!

Contact

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Bringing Neurophotonics to Laser World

Juni 29, 2023 | exhibitions, start-up news, technology

First time as a Strat-up at Europe’s biggest Photonics Trade Show

From June 27th to June 30th, 2023, our DeepEn colleagues Sergey (CEO) and Jiri (CTO) embarked on a significant journey to attend the Laser World of Photonics conference in Munich, one of Europe’s largest and most important photonics events. Their primary objective was to showcase the innovative potential of microendoscopy in the field of neurophotonics.

For Sergey, this marked his inaugural visit to a photonics convention not as a scientist but as a business leader. The two co-founders were on a mission to present DeepEn’s vision of introducing the first commercially available microendoscope for neuroscience applications. NeuroDeep® 1.0 represents an advanced laboratory setup that utilizes state-of-the-art holographic principles to facilitate microscopic imaging through an incredibly thin fiber. This technology is designed to serve as an endoscopic probe for minimally invasive imaging of living brain tissue.

Depending on the circumstances, NeuroDeep has the capacity to enable neuroscientists to achieve high-resolution or high-speed imaging of deep brain regions. This opens up possibilities for structural and functional imaging in critical areas such as the hippocampus, amygdala, or brain stem, all without the need to extract the overlying tissue.

NeuroDeep can already reliably resolve submicrometric features, such as dendritic spines, which can be imaged using commonly used fluorescence-labelling techniques. This capability can allow researchers to better observe changes caused by neurodegenerative diseases over time. To make deep brain neuron activity visible NeuroDeep can also be used for calcium imaging techniques. In the near future, DeepEn aims to tackle what is widely considered the holy grail of neuroimaging: voltage imaging, which would enable the visualization of neuron action potentials at significantly higher frequencies.

At the Laser World of Photonics in Munich, our project received substantial interest and attention. We shared a booth with colleagues from the research association Leibniz Health Technologies, and we are immensely grateful to them for providing us with this opportunity.

Creating Powerful Nodes – Setting the Basis for Collaboration in Neurophotonics

Apr. 21, 2023 | start-up news

The Leibniz Institute of Neurobiology (LIN) in Magdeburg is a leading research organization in the field of neuroscience, with expertise in the areas of learning and memory research. The institute has recently established an innovative new core facility for combinational neuroimaging. In Summer 2022, the holographic endoscopy group from Leibniz-IPHT (including the entire DeepEn start-up team) visited scientists in their laboratories at LIN for the first time to explore potential collaboration opportunities in the field of neurophotonics.

The goal of the collaboration is simple: neuroscientists can use the hair-thin holographic endoscope technology provided by neurophotonics experts from IPHT, ISI-CAS in Brno and DeepEn, to image deep brain regions with high resolution, thereby advancing our understanding of neural biology. In turn, the DeepEn, IPHT, and ISI-CAS colleagues can learn about the requirements and interests of the neuroscientist users, allowing them to enhance the endoscope technology into more valuable imaging tools that are reliable and easy to use. The interdisciplinary input will also guide future research and development efforts of the holographic endoscopy groups, enabling novel imaging techniques through one single multimode fibre probe.

The collaboration between LIN, IPHT, ISI-CAS and DeepEn has the potential to be highly productive. The institute in Magdeburg has a culture of innovation and a curiosity to try novel approaches, as demonstrated by the advanced combinational in-vivo imaging techniques utilized in its labs. These neurophotonics techniques allow researchers for example to explore learning and disease-related changes in cellular and synaptic signalling in neural networks. Interestingly, LIN has in recent years produced its own photonics spin-off start-up, Photonscore, which has successfully translated high-performing single photon counting cameras for Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM).

The compact hair-thin endoscopic imaging system developed by DeepEn neurophotonics experts has the potential to be a valuable tool for neuroscience researchers, as it enables imaging of subcortical structures while preserving the brain’s natural functions, addressing a limitation of other in-vivo microscopy methods. The collaboration, therefore, offers great potential for all participants. It presents a unique opportunity to test the compact endoscope of DeepEn under real conditions and with real users, allowing for the evaluation of the system’s performance and potential applications in various research contexts.

We, the DeepEn team, are excited to see this collaboration of strong partners intensify in the future, and we are sure that the results will be fantastic!

Science4Life Start-up competition winner

März 13, 2023 | start-up news

DeepEn won in the second stage of the Science4Life Startup Competition!

Science4Life events have been catering to deep tech startups with a strong research and development background for over 25 years. These events are known for their high level of quality and professionalism.

The Academy Days, organized as part of the Science4Life Start-up Competition, have provided us with an excellent platform to showcase our vision and receive valuable support to develop our start-up further. The program was designed to equip participants with the necessary knowledge and skills to develop and grow their companies successfully. During the 2-day event, our colleagues, Sergey and Patrick, received personal coaching and attended hands-on seminars on essential topics such as patents, taxes/legal, and financing.

DeepEn’s technology, is a hair-thin endoscope based on a single optical fibre that can be applied in neuroscience and medical research. The technological approach has been developed and refined at Leibniz-IPHT in Jena (Germany) and ISI-CAS in Brno (Czechia) in recent years. We strongly believe that by making this technology available to a wider range of users, DeepEn can help combat neurodegenerative diseases by allowing researchers to study the living brain at a cellular and sub-cellular level.

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are becoming increasingly common as the population ages. We believe that the hair thin imaging tools have the potential to make a significant contribution to the fight against these diseases, allowing researchers to image the deepest brain regions with high resolution and minimally invasively.

Looking ahead, we are excited about the third and final phase of the Science4Life competition, the business plan phase, scheduled for late April 2023. We believe that the skills and knowledge that we have gained from participating in the previous stages of the competition will help us to develop a strong business plan that can take our startup to the next level and perhaps lead us to the Science4Life Start-up competition winner.

The thinnest endoscopes in the world – article in magazine chemiepharma-innovation.ch

Feb. 28, 2023 | start-up news, technology

The DeepEn team is working at full speed and with motivation to make hair-thin endoscopes developed at the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology usable for broad applications in neuroscience and medicine.

You want to learn more about DeepEn, our technology and the spin-off? Then read the article „The thinnest endoscopes in the world“ by B2B Swiss Medien AG from the magazine Innovation Chemie Pharma.

Link to the article