New Light Microscope Can Visualize Molecules

Super-resolution microscopy has been advancing
by leaps and bounds for 20 years. Now, a cheaper
method has been invented for light microscopes.

A nanometer is one billionth of a meter, about the width of a protein molecule. Imagine being able to look into a light microscope and see proteins at that resolution. Such a reality is already on the way.

‘Democracy in microscopy’: cheap light microscope delivers super-resolution images (Nature News, 17 April 2023). State of the art methods for super-resolution microscopy are revolutionizing microbiology, but they are expensive. Frustrated that biologists in poorer countries do not have access to such equipment, Ali Shaib in Lebanon (originally from Hungary) put his mind to making higher resolution possible with older light microscopes. His team perfected a new technique called expansion microscopy. It combines fluorescent tags with expanding the dimensions of the target object.

The technique — which has recorded jaw-dropping images of individual proteins and never-before-seen structures in cells — offers a level of detail that eclipses even that of multi-million-dollar ‘super-resolution’ microscopes.

“There should be some form of democracy in microscopy,” says Silvio Rizzoli, a nanoscale specialist also at the University Medical Center Göttingen who has pioneered the technique, dubbed ONE microscopy, with Shaib. “It’s high resolution for the many, not the few rich labs.”

As the technique expands in labs around the world, researchers hope to visualize new things and figure out how cells work in better focus than ever.

This is a welcome announcement. We already know that with living cells, unlike with abiotic subjects, things get more interesting the closer you look. Expect growing evidence of intelligent design to come to light.

See also my article about super-resolution microscopy in Evolution News.