Label- and Slide-Free Multispectral Quantitative Epi-Illumination Deep-Ultraviolet Microscopy
- 1Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA .
- 2Department of Imaging Sciences, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA .
Abstract
Objective and Impact Statement: We present a low-cost, LED-based, epi-illumination deep-UV microscope (epi-DUV) for rapid, label- and slide-free quantitative imaging of fresh bulk tissues, offering a powerful tool for point-of-care and intraoperative histological assessment. Introduction: Label- and slide-free imaging is highly desired in clinical pathology to avoid time-consuming tissue processing while preserving molecular information. Deep-UV microscopy offers high-resolution molecular contrast via intrinsic biomolecular absorption, but prior implementations were limited to thin sections and cell monolayers. Methods: We use an epi-DUV system to capture 255- and 280-nm absorption images, alongside tryptophan autofluorescence, from fresh, unprocessed bulk tissue. A deterministic transformation is applied to the 255-nm absorption images to generate virtual histological staining computationally. Results: This method yields quantitative maps of nucleic acid mass, protein mass, and quantum yield, while the transformation produces accurate H&E-like contrast. The system achieves 0.5-μm lateral resolution and ~6-μm effective slice thickness across a 707 × 707-μm field of view with ~330-ms exposure. This is the first demonstration of quantitative deep-UV molecular imaging of fresh, unlabeled bulk tissue. Conclusion: These results establish a simple, low-cost platform for rapid histological assessment of unprocessed tissue. By providing complementary molecular readouts alongside morphological contrast, this approach overcomes conventional processing limitations for rapid clinical applications.
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BibTeX
@article{si2026label,
title = {{Label- and Slide-Free Multispectral Quantitative Epi-Illumination Deep-Ultraviolet Microscopy}},
author = {Mingxuan Si and Viswanath Gorti and Aaron D. Silva Trenkle and Arjun Renjith and Brienna E. Heinsz and Kyan Nguyen and Gabriel A. Kwong and Francisco E. Robles},
journal = {BME frontiers},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.34133/bmef.0337},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13720143},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Label- and Slide-Free Multispectral Quantitative Epi-Illumination Deep-Ultraviolet Microscopy
AU - Mingxuan Si
AU - Viswanath Gorti
AU - Aaron D. Silva Trenkle
AU - Arjun Renjith
AU - Brienna E. Heinsz
AU - Kyan Nguyen
AU - Gabriel A. Kwong
AU - Francisco E. Robles
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
JO - BME frontiers
DO - 10.34133/bmef.0337
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13720143
AB - Objective and Impact Statement: We present a low-cost, LED-based, epi-illumination deep-UV microscope (epi-DUV) for rapid, label- and slide-free quantitative imaging of fresh bulk tissues, offering a powerful tool for point-of-care and intraoperative histological assessment. Introduction: Label- and slide-free imaging is highly desired in clinical pathology to avoid time-consuming tissue processing while preserving molecular information. Deep-UV microscopy offers high-resolution molecular contrast via intrinsic biomolecular absorption, but prior implementations were limited to thin sections and cell monolayers. Methods: We use an epi-DUV system to capture 255- and 280-nm absorption images, alongside tryptophan autofluorescence, from fresh, unprocessed bulk tissue. A deterministic transformation is applied to the 255-nm absorption images to generate virtual histological staining computationally. Results: This method yields quantitative maps of nucleic acid mass, protein mass, and quantum yield, while the transformation produces accurate H&E-like contrast. The system achieves 0.5-μm lateral resolution and ~6-μm effective slice thickness across a 707 × 707-μm field of view with ~330-ms exposure. This is the first demonstration of quantitative deep-UV molecular imaging of fresh, unlabeled bulk tissue. Conclusion: These results establish a simple, low-cost platform for rapid histological assessment of unprocessed tissue. By providing complementary molecular readouts alongside morphological contrast, this approach overcomes conventional processing limitations for rapid clinical applications.
SN - 2765-8031
ER -