Alfred Millett-Sikking
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amsikking.bsky.social
Alfred Millett-Sikking
@amsikking.bsky.social
I'm a Physicist and R&D Engineer. Fascinated by optimal designs, I seek to improve and invent technologies.

Homepage: amsikking.github.io
Pinned
Just a start! Who's missing?

go.bsky.app/LAA7Sdx
Reposted by Alfred Millett-Sikking
The ASI machine shop made a nice replica model of the AMS-AGY v3 objective for us to have in the #CellBio2025 booth. The first of the real ones will be ready by the end of the year.
December 9, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Hands down my favorite #Snouty microscope configuration!

-> The air objective with a 55deg light-sheet. It's not the highest resolution version, but the convenience of the air objective, the large field of view and the steep sectioning of the light-sheet make it a pleasure to use!

#AIRR #miOPM
December 7, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Celebrating science with art! Every 2 weeks for 1 year, the full alphabet. Like, reply or repost with your favorite "U" scientist!

(21/26) -> "U" is for Unicorn, Ugli, and...Umov?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolay...

Art by @annesikking.bsky.social (my Mum).
December 7, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Fast, gentle, 3D and high resolution makes miOPM ideal for timelapse microscopy of complex neural networks!

-> Here's a unique iNeuron-iAstrocyte coculture imaged by github.com/gav-sturm and carefully prepared by @kunalshroff.bsky.social from the @kampmann.bsky.social lab.

doi.org/10.1101/2025...
November 24, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Celebrating science with art! Every 2 weeks for 1 year, the full alphabet. Like, reply or repost with your favorite "T" scientist!

(20/26) -> "T" is for Tarantula, Turnip, and...Taylor?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brook_T...

Art by @annesikking.bsky.social (my Mum).
November 23, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Has anyone had this problem? A hydrophobic water objective? The objective is great but we struggle to keep the water on the lens...

-> Maybe a solution is to paint a circle around the nose with a 'hydrophobic barrier pap pen" (link below). Has anyone tried this?

www.fishersci.com/shop/product...
November 12, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Another huge advantage of miOPM is that it's gentle! A light-sheet microscope that's compatible with standard slides and multi-well plates!

-> Here we show 3D mitochondrial membrane potential in mammalian cells (GFP/RFP for mito, Cy5 for DNA). The cells move around freely!

doi.org/10.1101/2025...
November 9, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Celebrating science with art! Every 2 weeks for 1 year, the full alphabet. Like, reply or repost with your favorite "S" scientist!

(19/26) -> "S" is for Squirrel, Strawberry, and...Snell?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willebr...

Art by @annesikking.bsky.social (my Mum).
November 9, 2025 at 7:26 PM
A huge advantage of miOPM is 3D imaging with an air objective (previous post), but for extra depth you can also use a water objective!

-> Here's mouse alveolar organoids with Muc1 AT2 cells (green), TOM20 mitochondria (blue), RAGE AT1 cells (gray) and DAPI (magenta).

doi.org/10.1101/2025...
October 26, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Celebrating science with art! Every 2 weeks for 1 year, the full alphabet. Like, reply or repost with your favorite "R" scientist!

(18/26) -> "R" is for Rabbit, Radish, and...Raman?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._V._R...

Art by @annesikking.bsky.social (my Mum).
October 26, 2025 at 4:48 PM
The future of High-Content Imaging has arrived.

-> Ultra-fast 3D imaging of multi-well plates at high resolution using an air objective!

See previous posts and the new miOPM preprint for details: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
October 13, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Celebrating science with art! Every 2 weeks for 1 year, the full alphabet. Like, reply or repost with your favorite "Q" scientist!

(17/26) -> "Q" is for Quail, Quince, and...Quinn?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Q...

Art by @annesikking.bsky.social (my Mum).
October 13, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Reposted by Alfred Millett-Sikking
Playing around with how to represent volume in #Snouty light sheet data. Here is a dividing hiPSC with endogenously tagged histone in all three orthogonal projections. Bluer is further away. If anything, it distracts from politics.
October 8, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Reposted by Alfred Millett-Sikking
We present multi-immersion Oblique Plane microscope (miOPM), a light-sheet platform that can be adapted to a wide range of applications, from sensitive live cell imaging to imaging organs and cleared tissues.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 6, 2025 at 5:52 PM
The culmination of many years work. One of the most advanced light-sheet microscopes in the world!

-> A large field of view Snouty light-sheet microscope, with any immersion remote refocus and real-time multi-angle projections!

For details see previous posts and here: github.com/amsikking/HT...
September 28, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Celebrating science with art! Every 2 weeks for 1 year, the full alphabet. Like, reply or repost with your favorite "P" scientist!

(16/26) -> "P" is for Pelican, Pineapple, and...Planck?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Pla...

Art by @annesikking.bsky.social (my Mum).
September 28, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Reposted by Alfred Millett-Sikking
@tanner-fadero.bsky.social told me there was a discussion about the unofficial name for #snouty V3. We have had Mr. Snouty and King Snouty, and there were people suggesting Emperor Snouty. I think it is time for a Lady or EMPRESS snouty. I have created Art to support this.
September 18, 2025 at 3:02 AM
What if we could get good 3D imaging in 'any' sample refractive index? Previously we showed how remote refocus optics can get good 3D imaging in a 'watery' sample (RI=1.33) with any immersion objective.

-> Here we show how a zoom lens can adjust remote refocus optics to any sample refractive index!
September 14, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Celebrating science with art! Every 2 weeks for 1 year, the full alphabet. Like, reply or repost with your favorite "O" scientist!

(15/26) -> "O" is for Octopus, Orange, and...Ohm?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Ohm

Art by @annesikking.bsky.social (my Mum).
September 14, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Alfred Millett-Sikking
Thrilled to share our new work in Cell Reports Methods: MCT-ASLM, a multiscale light-sheet microscopy platform that captures biology from tissue landscapes down to organelles, revealing rare events like sparse neurons and micrometastases. www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Feature-driven whole-tissue imaging with subcellular resolution
Lin et al. present a self-driving light-sheet microscope that integrates whole-organ surveys with automated, high-resolution targeting of either user-specified or autonomously identified features. By ...
www.cell.com
September 2, 2025 at 7:40 PM
What if we could use 'any' immersion objective and get good 3D imaging? Normally we can't as we must refractive index match the immersion to the sample (previous post).

-> However, I realized a few years ago that we can get good 3D imaging with any immersion using remote refocus optics!
September 1, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Celebrating science with art! Every 2 weeks for 1 year, the full alphabet. Like, reply or repost with your favorite "N" scientist!

(14/26) -> "N" is for Narwhal, Nasturtium, and...Newton?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_N...

Art by @annesikking.bsky.social (my Mum).
September 1, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Reposted by Alfred Millett-Sikking
Some first raw (not deskewed) data of live human induced pluripotent stem cells from #Snouty now ready for some serious live imaging. Light sheet moving at a 38-degree angle through the cell layer; coverslip is on the bottom.
August 28, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Reposted by Alfred Millett-Sikking
Bluesky is now the platform of choice for the scientific community.

From @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social on @arstechnica.com

arstechnica.com/science/2025...
Bluesky now platform of choice for science community
It’s not just you. Survey says: “Twitter sucks now and all the cool kids are moving to Bluesky”…
arstechnica.com
August 27, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Reposted by Alfred Millett-Sikking
👀 What if your flow cytometer could see the invisible?

Our new preprint introduces single-molecule flow cytometry (smFC), pushing detection sensitivity 10–80× beyond conventional flow cytometry.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Single-molecule flow cytometry
Flow cytometry (FC) is a powerful tool for high-throughput characterisation of cell populations, yet its ensemble fluorescence detection and the autofluorescence of cells impose a sensitivity limit of...
www.biorxiv.org
August 27, 2025 at 6:39 AM