CU Boulder Imaging Tech Optioned

The University of Colorado has completed an exclusive option agreement with Double Helix LLC of Boulder to develop its 3-D superresolution imaging technique.

Developed by electrical and computer engineering professor Rafael Piestun of CU-Boulder, who founded Double Helix in 2011, the technique combines 3-D optics and a signal postprocessing method used for quality improvement in image processing. It provides multifunctional 3-D superresolution imaging capability to thousands of cellular, molecular biology and biophysics laboratories around the world.

Microtubule structure of rat kangaroo epithelial cells, using conventional fluorescence microscopy (top) and 3-D double helix superresolution microscopy (bottom). (Image: G. Grover, K. DeLuca, J. DeLuca and R. Piestun)

Double Helix’s technology platform can be applied to a variety of industrial, scientific and consumer applications, including metrology, microscopy and computational digital photography, Piestun said.

“We are looking forward to bringing this leading-edge technology to the market, initially in microscopy and, later, to more markets, including metrology and digital optics, a stronghold of the Boulder entrepreneurial community,” said Leslie Kimerling, a founding partner of Double Helix.

Double Helix works in collaboration with scientists at CU-Boulder to develop and commercialize computational optical-digital technologies used for superresolution, estimation and 3-D imaging.

For more information, visit: www.cu.edu