In this groundbreaking episode, we are joined by Dr. Kirkland, a leading expert in the field of biomedical imaging, who guides us through his trailblazing research on bioluminescence imaging (BLI) in the central nervous system. While BLI has become an indispensable technique in biomedical research, allowing non-invasive visualization of cells and biochemical events in vivo, its application in the brain has been a challenge due to the relatively poor performance of luciferases with existing substrates.

Dr. Kirkland discusses his recent discovery of a NanoLuc substrate, cephalofurimazine (CFz), which significantly improves the performance of BLI in the brain. When paired with Antares luciferase, CFz produces over 20-fold more signal from the brain compared to the standard pairing of D-luciferin with firefly luciferase. This leap forward in se ...