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DeepEn at FENS 2024: Bringing Holographic Endoscopes to the Heart of Neuroscience

DeepEn at FENS 2024: Bringing Holographic Endoscopes to the Heart of Neuroscience

Jul 23, 2024 | exhibitions, Start-up News, Technology

Holographic Endoscope in Action! 

In June, the whole DeepEn team, had the fantastic opportunity to showcase the prototype of an ultrathin endoscope live at FENS 2024, Europe’s largest neuroscience conference, in Vienna.

The event gave us a chance to connect with an incredible community of neuroscientists, from Principal Investigators (PIs) to PhD students and industry colleagues. We were thrilled that everything worked out so well and that we could demonstrate how minimally invasive, hair-thin microendoscopy can be applied in deep-brain calcium imaging to such a large and relevant audience.

Holographic endoscope technology has long been confined to a few specialised photonics labs scattered around the world, with only a small number of researchers able to use it to explore biological questions through limited collaborations. However, holographic endoscopes have proven their value as powerful microscopy tools providing high-resolution spatial and temporal imaging in deep tissue regions—such as the amygdala and brainstem—that are notoriously difficult to access with other optical methods.

Therefore, we were proud to demonstrate a miniaturised, yet robust holographic endoscope system that can empower new, exciting discoveries in laboratories worldwide in the future.

Preliminary imaging results from Prof. Janelle Pakan

On the first day of the FENS2024 conference, during the Photonics for Brain Workshop led by our DeepEn co-founder Tomas Cizmar, Prof. Janelle Pakan presented, among other great results, imaging results from a previous collaboration with DeepEn at the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology (LIN) and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) in Magdeburg. 

In her study, a holographic endoscope was used to examine deep brain cerebellar circuitry in mouse models. The DeepEn system was used to record calcium signals from mossy fibres. Observing the activity of these deep-seated brain cells in correlation with the organism’s locomotion and speed could yield new insights into the functioning of cerebrocerebellar pathways.

Thanks to Prof. Pakan for the great project and for presenting the calcium imaging results to the broader neuroscience community!

Engaging with the Neuroscientists

The interest in holographic endoscopy at FENS 2024 exceeded our expectations.

Throughout the four-day event, many researchers visited the DeepEn booth to see the live demos and discuss how this cutting-edge technology could advance their own work. We were also impressed and inspired by the wide range of topics covered in the scientific program and at the poster sessions.

We walked away from the conference with many new ideas, potential collaborations, and a deep gratitude for the researchers who took the time to engage with us. We can’t wait to see where the future takes the rapidly advancing field of holographic endoscopy and how it will continue to advance brain research worldwide.

Bringing Neurophotonics to Laser World

Bringing Neurophotonics to Laser World

Jun 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.