Translucence Biosystems, Inc.

Translucence Biosystems, Inc. is a privately held life-science tools and services company based in Irvine, California, United States. Founded in 2018, the company describes itself as enabling a revolution in tissue histology by developing new tools, reagents, assays and know-how for three-dimensional, next-generation imaging of intact tissues. Its stated mission is to provide researchers and clinicians with fast, reliable and complete 3D analysis of biological samples, shifting histology from traditional two-dimensional sectioning toward brain-wide and whole-organ 3D analysis. The company operates at the intersection of tissue clearing chemistry, light sheet microscopy, computational 3D reconstruction and machine-learning-based image analysis. Its workflow combines proprietary tissue clearing protocols, imaging on ZEISS Lightsheet Z.1 and Lightsheet 7 microscopes through its Mesoscale Imaging System, a computational reconstruction pipeline, and software tools such as Voxels for AI-powered 3D quantification and Stitchy for stitching large terabyte-scale light sheet datasets. Translucence markets both physical products — including the Universal Tissue Clearing Kit, the Neuronal Activity Tissue Clearing Kit and the Neuroinflammation Tissue Clearing Kit — and modular or full-pipeline research services. Its service portfolio is organized around custom modular offerings (3D tissue clearing, 3D tissue imaging, light sheet image stitching and AI-powered 3D quantification) and comprehensive full-pipeline assays targeting specific research areas. These full-pipeline assays include Alzheimer's disease (β-amyloid plaque deposition), Parkinson's disease (α-synuclein and tyrosine hydroxylase), neuroinflammatory diseases (Iba1 microglial marker), neuronal activity, therapeutic antibody detection, liver bile ducts and tubular structures, and whole-organ vasculature staining. The company positions itself as a specialist in tissue clearing and staining methods, offering access to the intricate 3D structure of the brain and other complex organs. Translucence Biosystems was co-founded by Damian G. Wheeler, PhD, who serves as Chief Executive Officer, and Dr. Sunil Gandhi, a professor of neurobiology and behavior at UC Irvine, who serves as Chief Scientific Advisor. Wheeler is a neuroscientist with more than 25 years of research experience in academia and drug discovery, having completed a PhD at McGill University and postdoctoral research at Stanford before spending nine years at Dart NeuroScience. Gandhi's lab at UC Irvine pioneers methods for brain visualization and functional imaging. The company occupies engineering and wet-lab space at TechPortal at Calit2 on the UC Irvine campus and at the University Lab Partners incubator, maintaining close ties to the Southern California neuroscience research community. As a private company, Translucence Biosystems does not disclose public financial information. Its customers are primarily academic neuroscience laboratories, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies engaged in CNS drug discovery, and clinical researchers. The company engages with the scientific community through conference presentations, including posters presented at the Neuroscience 2025 meeting, and through direct sales of kits and services via its website.

Translucence Biosystems, Inc. was founded in 2018 in Irvine, California, United States. The company was co-founded by Damian G. Wheeler, PhD, a neuroscientist with more than 25 years of research experience in academia and drug discovery, and Dr. Sunil Gandhi, a professor of neurobiology and behavior at UC Irvine and co-director of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. Wheeler became a leading expert in the signaling mechanisms by which neuronal activity activates gene transcription during his PhD studies at McGill University and postdoctoral research at Stanford, and later spent nine years at Dart NeuroScience developing cognition-enhancing drugs. Gandhi's research focuses on developing cell technology to harness the brain's capacity to rewire itself; his lab at UC Irvine pioneers methods for brain visualization and functional imaging. From its founding, the company has focused on enabling a dimensional shift from 2D to 3D tissue histology. It develops tissue clearing methods, assays, imaging technology, machine-learning-enabled data processing tools and novel methods for big data statistical analysis of spatial anatomy. The company occupies engineering and wet-lab space at TechPortal at Calit2 on the UC Irvine campus and at the University Lab Partners incubator, maintaining close ties to the Southern California neuroscience research community. Translucence Biosystems has built a portfolio that combines physical products and research services. Its product line includes the Universal Tissue Clearing Kit, the Neuronal Activity Tissue Clearing Kit, the Neuroinflammation Tissue Clearing Kit, the Mesoscale Imaging System™ and the Stitchy™ software, along with the Voxels software for AI-powered 3D quantification. Its services are organized into modular Custom Services (3D tissue clearing, 3D tissue imaging, light sheet image stitching, AI-powered 3D quantification) and comprehensive Full-Pipeline Services targeting specific research areas such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, neuroinflammatory diseases, neuronal activity, therapeutic antibody detection, liver bile ducts and tubular structures, and whole-organ vasculature staining. The company's workflow combines expertise in tissue clearing, light sheet imaging on ZEISS Lightsheet Z.1 and Lightsheet 7 microscopes, computational 3D reconstruction and machine-learning-based image analysis. It markets its offerings to researchers and clinicians seeking fast, reliable and complete 3D analysis of biological samples, with a particular emphasis on brain-wide analysis. The company engages with the scientific community through conference presentations, including posters presented at the Neuroscience 2025 meeting, and through direct sales via its website. As a private company, it does not disclose public financial information.

• 2025

  Company presented posters at the Neuroscience 2025 meeting.

• 2018

  Translucence Biosystems founded in Irvine, California, by Damian G. Wheeler and Sunil Gandhi.

Specialist provider of 3D tissue clearing, light sheet imaging and AI-powered image analysis tools and services for brain-wide and whole-organ histology, targeting neuroscience researchers and CNS drug discovery.

• Universal Tissue Clearing Kit

  A kit for expert-level tissue clearing, marketed as a path to expert-level tissue clearing.

• Neuronal Activity Tissue Clearing Kit

  A kit for exploring brain-wide neuronal activity.

• Neuroinflammation Tissue Clearing Kit

  A kit for neuroinflammation tissue clearing.

• Mesoscale Imaging System™

  An imaging system used with ZEISS Lightsheet Z.1 and Lightsheet 7 microscopes for light sheet imaging.

• Stitchy™

  Software for custom stitching of large terabyte-sized light sheet datasets.

• Voxels software

  AI-powered 3D quantification software offering unrivaled speed and flexibility for rapid generation of custom assays.

1. 1Translucence Biosystems official websitetranslucencebio.com
2. 2Services | Translucence Biosystemstranslucencebio.com
3. 3About | Translucence Biosystemstranslucencebio.com
4. 4Our Team | Translucence Biosystemstranslucencebio.com
5. 5Translucence Biosystems, Inc. (United States) - Wikidatawikidata.org