TimmyH
Inner Beauty - Beauty in Biology
June 11th 2008 04:57
Biologists have discovered a new way to photograph the nanostructures of living cells. The technique, called 3-D structured illumination microscopy, was developed by researchers at the UCal in San Francisco and gives some of the most detailed images of the inner workings of cells ever taken.
Up until now biophysicists have been up against a fundamental limit with conventional microscopes. Lenses are only able to focus the light from a globe down to a spot size as small as half their wavelength. Dead cells are easy to view, using electron microscopy. Sadly this process only reveals a blur when focused on living cells. This means that the inner workings of living cells have been invisible, until now.
Professor of biochemistry and biophysics John Sedat says that when exploring the new technology “we threw the conventional microscope out the window and began again.”
The new microscope illuminates cells with stripes of light that Sedat describes as an “interference pattern.”
“When a fine cellular structure, such as a single cluster of proteins embedded in a cell nucleus, reflects this light, it changes the pattern slightly. The microscope collects this light; software is used to interpret changes in its pattern and create an image.”
Sedat and his team in San Francisco have used the new technique to create images of a large amount of the genome. But one of the problems is that living cells could potentially be damaged by the imaging process. The next phase of development will include reducing the amount of cell-damaging light required to take the pictures.
Two adjoining cells prepare for division
Up until now biophysicists have been up against a fundamental limit with conventional microscopes. Lenses are only able to focus the light from a globe down to a spot size as small as half their wavelength. Dead cells are easy to view, using electron microscopy. Sadly this process only reveals a blur when focused on living cells. This means that the inner workings of living cells have been invisible, until now.
The protein skeleton of a mammalian cell
Professor of biochemistry and biophysics John Sedat says that when exploring the new technology “we threw the conventional microscope out the window and began again.”
The new microscope illuminates cells with stripes of light that Sedat describes as an “interference pattern.”
Giant fruit-fly chromosomes
“When a fine cellular structure, such as a single cluster of proteins embedded in a cell nucleus, reflects this light, it changes the pattern slightly. The microscope collects this light; software is used to interpret changes in its pattern and create an image.”
Nucleus from a mouse-muscle stem cell
Sedat and his team in San Francisco have used the new technique to create images of a large amount of the genome. But one of the problems is that living cells could potentially be damaged by the imaging process. The next phase of development will include reducing the amount of cell-damaging light required to take the pictures.
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Genyration
I can't wait to get some more images. MIT should be contacting me shortly and ill have them up for you all