How to build a time-gated luminescence microscope.

The sensitivity of filter-based fluorescence microscopy techniques is limited by autofluorescence background. Time-gated detection is a practical way to suppress autofluorescence, enabling higher contrast and improved sensitivity. In the past few years, three groups of authors have demonstrated independent approaches to build robust versions of time-gated luminescence microscopes. Three detailed, step-by-step protocols are provided here for modifying standard fluorescent microscopes to permit imaging time-gated luminescence.