MiniXL

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Extra Large FOV Miniscope (MiniXL). A 3.5-gram miniaturized fluorescence microscope with a 3.5 mm field of view for imaging neuronal activity in freely behaving mice and larger animals. Second generation of the MiniLFOV specifically focused on supporting large FOVs in mice.

Repository ↗

Cite this project as:

P. Zhao,C. Guo,M. Xie,L. Chen,P. Golshani,D. Aharoni. MiniXL: An open-source, large field-of-view epifluorescence miniscope enabling single-cell resolution and multi-region imaging in mice. Science Advances 11(24)

eads4995 (2,025). doi:10.1126/sciadv.ads4995

Specifications

Name	Value	Unit
Field of View	3.5	mm
Focal Adjustment	+/-200	um
Height	30	mm
Resolution	~3	um
Weight	3.5	g
Working Distance	1.9	mm

Components

Component	Version	Type	Description
MiniXL/Component/MiniXL Baseplate/0.1.0	0.1.0	3D Printed	Head-mount baseplate for affixing the MiniXL to an animal during imaging.
MiniXL/Component/MiniXL Housing/0.1.0	0.1.0	3D Printed	3D printed microscope body housing for the MiniXL.
MiniXL/Component/MiniXL Optical Assembly/0.1.0	0.1.0	Optical	Achromatic fluorescence imaging optics with 3.5 mm FOV, ~3 um resolution, and 1.9 mm working distance. Modular design supports cortical imaging through cranial windows and deep brain imaging with implanted probes.
MiniXL/Component/MiniXL Rigid-Flex PCB/0.1.0	0.1.0	Circuit Board	4-layer rigid-flex PCB assembly integrating the CMOS image sensor, LED excitation, serializer/deserializer, IMU (BNO055), and electrowetting lens driver onto a single foldable board.

Releases

Release	Version	Date	Artifact	Changelog
MiniXL/Release/0.1.1	0.1.1	19 May 2026

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Publications

• Publication/zhao 2025 minixl (Year: 2,025)
• Publication/zhao 2024 minixl (Year: 2,024)

SOPs

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