Three-dimensional microscopy of biopsies with a handheld confocal microscope

Intravital confocal microscopy has provided powerful mechanistic insights into health and disease with three-dimensional imaging capability and has become a common imaging instrument in the modern biological laboratory and clinic. However, the requisite of high numerical aperture, short working distance, and small field of view that enable confocal microscopy limit the ability to investigate hollow organs in vivo. Here we introduce a handheld confocal microscope that circumvents the above technical limitations of confocal microscopy and, as a result, provides imaging access to variety tissues in vivo. The handheld microscope achieves its miniaturization with micro-optics and microelectromechanical systems scanner technology enabling a small form factor and 3-D imaging performance.