OPTOZEN: Optical Coherence Tomography for Zebrafish Imaging

The main objective of OPTOZEN is the development of polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (OCT) for imaging of zebrafish (Danio rerio).
OCT is an imaging tool for 2D and 3D reconstruction of small specimen, able to achieve sub-millimeter spatial resolution over some millimeters of depth, at rather fast acquisition rates in the order of hundreds of axial scans per second. Polarization sensitive OCT (PS-OCT) is a variant of standard OCT, which is able to analyze optical polarization properties of the specimen, thus enabling more detailed characterization and enhanced image contrast. Indeed, by exploiting the information carried by polarization of light, PS-OCT enables the analysis of features not detectable by standard OCT.
Recently, a growing interest focused on the application of OCT to the imaging of zebrafishes, which are, for several characteristics, a model of election for developmental biology studies. Within this framework, OPTOZEN will start a research activity on PS-OCT, with the objective of proving that PS-OCT can be successfully and effectively applied to imaging of zebrafish, reaching performances beyond the current state of the art.