April 29, 2013

TU Delft helps to advance important microscopic technique for biomedical research




Scientists at TU Delft have made an important advancement in a new microscopic technique that is widely used in medical research. They demonstrate what the resolution of this localisation microscopy is and how the best resolution can be achieved as quickly as possible. This week their findings are being published online in the scientific journal Nature Methods.

Much sharper images

Fluorescence microscopy is an important technique in biomedical research. This method makes it possible to deduce information, for example about the functioning of cells, from the light emitted by certain fluorescent molecules in cells. Fluorescence microscopy used to produce images with resolution ranging from 200 to 300 nanometres. In recent years, however, scientists have employed a trick that allows you to view images around ten times sharper: localisation microscopy. This technique makes it possible to obtain much better and much more informative images of the interior of the cell.