Berndt, F. et al. Nat. Commun. 9, 5025 (2018)

To image a living sample under a light-sheet microscope, the specimen needs to be fixed and kept still. But a single view might not reveal all the detail desired. A new approach uses magnets to add a little rotation. Small magnetic agarose spheres can be embedded in the agarose that holds the sample itself, or in the case of animals like zebrafish that develop in a fluid-filled chorion, directly into the yolk. A simple magnet or, for more dynamic three-dimensional control, a set-up of electromagnets can then be used to re-orient the sample under the microscope.

The researchers apply the new magnetic approach in 6 mm Artemia crustaceans and 12 mm mouse embryos, zebrafish embryos (which rotate within their chorion), and zebrafish larvae held in a glass capillary.