ANR BRAINS

Supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche, the BRAINS project aimed to establish advanced retinal imaging architectures capable of probing neuronal and vascular function in vivo at micrometric resolution.

Understanding functional interactions in the central nervous system requires imaging tools that combine cellular resolution, high contrast, extended field-of-view, and high temporal precision. In the retina, conventional point-scanning systems impose intrinsic trade-offs between these properties. BRAINS addressed this limitation by developing new optical architectures designed to break these compromises.

Develop wide-field interferometric imaging for neuronal functional measurements

Establish high-speed phase-contrast imaging of retinal microvasculature

Validate functional readouts of photoreceptor activity and vascular dynamics in vivo

Create a unified technological framework for integrated neurovascular investigation

BRAINS consolidated two complementary imaging platforms. Time-domain Full-Field Optical Coherence Tomography was developed for parallel en-face interferometric imaging, enabling structural and functional measurements of retinal photoreceptors over extended fields-of-view using a simplified adaptive optics strategy. In parallel, the Adaptive Optics Rolling Slit Ophthalmoscope was introduced as a line-scan architecture synchronized with rolling shutter detection to achieve large-field, high-speed phase-contrast vascular imaging.

BRAINS established the technological foundations for integrated neuronal and vascular functional imaging in the living retina. By consolidating these complementary platforms, the project enabled quantitative investigation of neurovascular interactions at the cellular scale in vivo, creating the experimental conditions necessary for studying their physiological regulation and alteration in disease.