Diseases like cancer have complex tissue morphology requiring microscopic examination.  Typically this involves 2D examination through a microscope by a pathologist, a slow and manual process and doesn't reveal 3D structures.  3D serial section microscopy has proven to be a powerful tool in examining the 3-dimensional nature of tissue; however, it is limited by the size of tissue samples that can be used and the manual process of acquiring data.

The Knife-Edge Scanning Microscope (KESM) acquisition and analysis computational system resolves these issues by providing high resolution light microscopy image data at multi-cubic centimeter scale. Using this system for quantification of microvasculature provides the ability to examine, measure, and compare the 3-dimensional nature of vascular networks at whole organ scale and sub-micron resolution.