SLOT: Computed Tomography with laser light for volumetric microscopy of mesoscopic specimens

Techniques for 3D mesoscopy of biological samples are an important instrument in the life sciences. Furthermore, the development and study of these techniques has become a research field in its own right. In recent years, Scanning Laser Optical Tomography (SLOT) has emerged as a new and promising tool for 3D microscopy. SLOT is the equivalent of Computed Tomography (CT) with laser light and is able to generate volumetric reconstructions of a sample from a series of projection images. In this talk we will introduce the application of SLOT in the fields of neurobiology, developmental biology and implant research. We will furthermore present recent advances in the preparation and imaging of optically cleared samples as well as the use of nonlinear contrast mechanisms in SLOT.