Since the introduction of the CLARITY tissue clearing technique as well as several others, researchers have tried to implement tissue clearing and 3D imaging into their research workflows with limited success. To address this adoption hurdle, Visikol has launched an initiative to host hands-on tissue clearing workshops across the US to empower researchers to easily adopt tissue clearing into their research. Visikol kicked off 2018 with the first workshop on January 26th at Florida Atlantic University.
In late 2016 Visikol launched a suite of patented tissue clearing reagents and kits called Visikol® HISTO™ that were designed to make tissue clearing rapid, compatible with all labeling techniques, easy-to-use and affordable. In launching Visikol® HISTO™ and working with hundreds of research groups from around the world, Visikol heard the same feedback again and again:
“I couldn’t get tissue clearing to work in my lab.”
Over the last year-and-a-half Visikol spent countless hours digging into this problem and trying to understand the disconnect between publications citing the use of a multitude of tissue clearing techniques and researchers struggling to adopt them. What Visikol found was that while all tissue clearing techniques have their advantages and disadvantages, they all generally work and the problem with tissue clearing is not the techniques but instead how they are implemented.
Tissue clearing is the confluence of many complex disciplines (tissue labeling, tissue clearing, 3D microscopy, data processing) and the major challenge that underlies most of the unsuccessful applications of tissue clearing is that every application requires its own protocol and optimization approach across these disciplines. Additionally, there are many practical considerations for 3D tissue imaging such as tissue thickness and optical limitations that need to be considered prior to implementing a tissue clearing protocol. These challenges manifest themselves as non-uniform labeling, non-cleared tissues and the inability to optically section.
To address this problem, Visikol partnered with over 400 research labs from around the world and launched the Visikol® HISTO™ Protocol Guidebook that enables any researcher to customize a Visikol HISTO protocol specifically for their research question. In 2018, Visikol is taking this tool along with insights from hundreds of researchers out to universities and research groups through its tissue clearing workshop series.
This tissue clearing workshop is comprised of a lecture on various aspects of 3D tissue imaging (tissue labeling, tissue clearing, 3D microscopy, data processing) as well as a hands-on demo where researchers prepare their tissues for 3D imaging. In the demo the Visikol® HISTO™ tissue clearing approach is paired with Abcam antibodies validated for use in 3D. Through this tissue clearing workshop, the Visikol team dispels many of the myths around tissue clearing such as the need for expensive optics (e.g. dipping objectives) or a light sheet microscope as well as how best to prepare samples to answer a research question while reducing cost, time and complexity.
If you are interested in hosting a tissue clearing workshop at your university email us at iinfo@visikol.com
Pictures from Tissue Clearing Workshop at FAU
