Imaging Large Tissue Samples at High Resolution

Extract

To those scientists and researchers who use microscopes with video or digital cameras for the purpose of capture and display, there has always existed a fundamental problem, namely, imaging large tissue samples at high resolution.

For some time, conventional technology has allowed video cameras to be attached to microscopes. The signal generated by these cameras can be captured and saved to a computer's hard drive using a frame grabber. A typical image capture and display resolution is 640 by 480 (307,200) pixels. Although the image produced is ‘good’, it is by no means considered ‘high resolution’. For the sake of discussion, ‘high resolution’ is defined as greater than 1,000 x 1,000 (1,000,000) pixels. High resolution images are essential for medical applications. Today's modern digital cameras can meet or exceed this value. The human eye, if compared to these examples, has the equivalent resolution of greater than 5,000 x 5,000 (25,000,000) pixels.