{
  "id": 7877795,
  "title": "Multiphoton tomographic fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy -TomoFLIM",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/16/multiphoton-tomographic-fluorescence-lifetime-imaging-microscopy",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-16T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.11.750847v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) offers quantitative contrast for studying molecular interactions and cellular processes. However, its slow acquisition speeds hinder its use in dynamic biological contexts. Researchers have developed a new technique called TomoFLIM, which combines multiphoton excitation with time-correlated single-photon counting to accelerate FLIM imaging. By using a line focus projected tomographically across the sample and time-tagged fluorescence acquisition, TomoFLIM reconstructs time-resolved data using Lucy-Richardson deconvolution and a center-of-mass method estimator. Furthermore, a physics-informed neural network called TomoFLIM Net can directly reconstruct fluorescence intensity and lifetime from compressed tomographic data. TomoFLIM was tested against traditional raster-scanned FLIM measurements using calibrated beads and biological samples. The results showed that TomoFLIM achieved compression ratios over 90% and a Pearson correlation coefficient above 80% compared to reference images. Importantly, the technique was 16 times faster than raster-scanned FLIM, with a 3.75-second runtime for a dataset previously acquired in 60 seconds. TomoFLIM Net successfully recovered distinct lifetime populations from experimental beads, demonstrating the potential for rapid live-cell imaging of dynamic biological processes, even within turbid specimens.",
  "summary": "Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy provides quantitative, concentration-independent contrast for probing molecular interactions, biochemical environments and cellular physiology. However, the requirement to acquire sufficient time-resolved photon statistics makes FLIM inherently slow, limiting its application to dynamic biological processes. In live-cell applications, including calcium…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}