Fluorescence imaging is one of the most versatile and widely-used tools in biology. Although techniques to overcome the diffraction barrier were introduced more than two decades ago, fluorescence microscopy still fails to image the morphology of single proteins or small molecular complexes, either purified or in a cellular context. I present here a solution to this problem, in the form of one-nanometer expansion (ONE) microscopy. We combined the 10-fold axial expansion of the specimen (1000-fold by volume) with a fluorescence fluctuation analysis, SRRF, to achieve resolutions down to 1 nm or better. We have successfully applied ONE microscopy to image cultured cells, tissues, viral particles, molecular complexes and single proteins. This technology bridges the gap between high-resolution structural biology techniques and light microscopy, and provides a new avenue for discoveries in biology and medicine.
Organizer
Gerard Borst
g.borst@erasmusmc.nl