Olympus Microscope Earns 2012 Edison Award

Olympus America Inc. has received the Gold Edison Award for a microscope system that enables imaging deeper into tissue than ever before, the company announced.

The international awards celebrate 25 years of honoring the best in innovation and excellence in the development of new products and services.

Olympus’ Scaleview microscope optics, part of a system that allows biologists to see deeper into tissue, won in the science and medical category.

Until recently, researchers had to slice thin sections of fixed brain and other tissue to make observations through significant depth. Every cut was damaging to the specimen, and the tissue’s opaque quality itself scattered light, making it difficult to view and visualize the millions of neural filament connections.

The new system was created with the help of Dr. Atsushi Miyawaki of Japan’s Riken Brain Science Institute, which developed a low-cost reagent that turns tissue transparent. The partnership led to two microscope objectives optimized for use with the reagent. The new technology enables a deeper look into the brain and other organ tissues — with imaging depth up to 8 mm.

The Scaleview system helps biologists to map brain connections more easily and to better understand its functioning.

“At Olympus, we take pride in our optical excellence and in working closely with researchers to achieve their goals, and are honored to receive this recognition from the Edison Awards,” said Brendan Brinkman, senior product manager of Olympus America’s Scientific Equipment Group. “Whether Scaleview helps them to clearly visualize brain architecture, or clarifies structures in developmental organogenesis, stem cell biology or other applications, we look forward to the success of researchers using this new technology. Ultimately it is their work that benefits humanity, and we are proud to be a part of that vision in any way.”

The awards, presented April 26 at a ceremony in New York City, were judged by a panel of more than 3000 business executives, including past award winners, members of the Marketing Executives Networking Group, academics and product development leaders. They were named after Thomas Alva Edison whose new-product development methods and innovative achievements garnered him 1093 US patents and made him a household name.

For more information, visit: www.olympus.com