Welcome to the Light-Sheet Imaging at Universidad Mayor –LiSIUM– Initiative!  Light-sheet microscopy is a powerful approach for fast and gentle 3D-imaging of intact living model organisms, tissues, and developing cells.  At Universidad Mayor (UM), we have obtained (with FONDEQUIP) the only streamlined model in the region –a ZEISS Light-sheet 7 microscope– raising significant interest among our collaborators seeking to implement light-sheet bioimaging. Moreover, we have recently received funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to Expand Global Access to Bioimaging, through which we aim to connect several labs at the Universidad Mayor (UM) with other institutions in Chile and international labs to build a hub for light-sheet microscopy in Latin America.

Through LiSIUM, we will put together light-sheet microscopy workshops, seminars and conferences that will benefit a large network of researchers.  We are working with expert scientists that build microscopes and promote the use of light-sheet microscopy by instructing researchers on how to assemble their own systems. We provide an innovative service for researchers to image samples remotely. And last but not least, we are lucky to partner with MicroxChile and Zeiss to lease extra light-sheet microscopes annually, during the same time as the world-class Developmental Biology course is taught in the south pacific coast of Quintay which will allow us to reach out to students and researchers alike who work with models suitable for this technology. At LiSIUM, we are dedicated to comprehensively introduce the light-sheet microscopy paradigm to the new generation of scientists in Latin America.