At the time of this writing, searching Google Scholar for ‘light-sheet microscopy’ returns almost 8500 results; over three-quarters of which were published in the last 5 years alone. Searching for other advanced imaging methods in the last 5 years yields similar results: ‘super-resolution microscopy’ (>16 000), ‘single-molecule imaging’ (almost 10 000), SPIM (Single Plane Illumination Microscopy, 5000), and ‘lattice light-sheet’ (1300). The explosion of new imaging methods has also produced a dizzying menagerie of acronyms, with over 100 different species of ‘light-sheet’ alone, from SPIM to UM (Ultra microscopy) to SiMView (Simultaneous MultiView) to iSPIM (inclined SPIM, not to be confused with iSPIM, inverted SPIM). How then is the average biologist, without an advanced degree in physics, optics, or computer science supposed to make heads or tails of which method is best suited for their needs? Let us also not forget the plight of the optical physicist, who at best might need help with obtaining healthy samples and keeping them that way, or at worst may not realize the impact their newest technique could have for biologists. This review will not attempt to solve all these problems, but instead highlight some of the most recent, successful mergers between biology and advanced imaging technologies, as well as hopefully provide some guidance for anyone interested in journeying into the world of live-cell imaging.

在撰写本文时，在Google学术搜索中搜索“光片显微镜”可获得近8500个结果；仅在过去的五年中，就有四分之三以上的书被出版。在过去5年中寻找其他先进的成像方法可获得相似的结果：“超分辨率显微镜”（> 16 000），“单分子成像”（近1万），SPIM（单平面照明显微镜，5000）和“格子光片”（1300）。新的成像方法的爆炸式增长也产生了令人眼花men乱的首字母缩略词，从SPIM到UM（超显微）到SiMView（同步MultiView）再到iSPIM（倾向于SPIM，不是与iSPIM（倒置SPIM）混淆）。没有生物学，光学高级学位的普通生物学家又该如何？还是计算机科学应该采用哪种方法最适合其需求？让我们也不要忘记光学物理学家的困境，他们最好可能需要帮助来获取健康的样品并以这种方式保存它们，或者最坏的情况下可能没有意识到他们的最新技术可能对生物学家产生的影响。这篇综述不会试图解决所有这些问题，而是重点介绍生物学和高级成像技术之间的一些最新，成功的合并，并希望为有兴趣进入活细胞成像世界的任何人提供一些指导。或在最坏的情况下可能不会意识到他们的最新技术可能对生物学家产生的影响。这篇综述不会试图解决所有这些问题，而是重点介绍生物学和高级成像技术之间的一些最新，成功的合并，并希望为有兴趣进入活细胞成像世界的任何人提供一些指导。或在最坏的情况下可能不会意识到他们的最新技术可能对生物学家产生的影响。这篇综述不会试图解决所有这些问题，而是重点介绍生物学和高级成像技术之间的一些最新，成功的合并，并希望为有兴趣进入活细胞成像世界的任何人提供一些指导。