JUL 10, 2017

Unprecedented Views Inside the Cell

WRITTEN BY: Carmen Leitch

Check out this nanoscopy, in which scientists attempt to visualize structures below a 200 to 300 nanometer resolution, so-called super-resolution. Researchers at Yale University have performed time-lapse microscopy and have utilized special probes that highlight structures within the cell to generate these images.

The images obtained by the researchers, Derek Toomre and Alanna Schepartz, are pretty incredible. They were able to get around problems with bleaching that often occurs when imaging stained cells at high magnification. In the video, you can hear from the investigators more about the strategies they used to successfully improve on the old techniques.

Using the very structure of membranes inside the cell, they have created an ingenious way to see the cell with unprecedented detail. The new tool could help researchers understand more about how cellular organelles and lipids interact.