ClearLight Diagnostics to Commercialize Tissue Clearing, Microscope Technology

Transparent tissue imaging technology developed by professor Karl Deisseroth and colleagues at Stanford University has been licensed to ClearLight Diagnostics.

ClearLight plans to commercialize the technology, which is aimed at improving diagnosis and treatment of a range of diseases.

An intact adult mouse brain pictured before and after the two-day CLARITY process. File image courtesy of the Deisseroth lab.

The agreement includes CLARITY, a tissue clarification method that uses chemical treatments to render tissue optically transparent for microscopy and sample analysis.

Also licensed was an optics system for accelerating image collection from clarified samples, called CLARITY-optimized light-sheet microscopy (COLM). COLM visualizes labeled tissue elements, cells and connections within tissue blocks.

"We are excited by the prospect of further developing the CLARITY and COLM technologies," said ClearLight CEO Sarah McCurdy. "Our development efforts will ultimately impact the lives of many patients through the creation of new tools and services for diagnosing diseases and finding new treatments."

ClearLight is initially funded by a syndicate created by Wiegers Capital Partners LLC.