Scientists from Australia improved the microscope, for which they gave the Nobel Prize

The 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded for the development of fluorescence microscopy technology

ultra-high resolution. It allowed scientists to obtain the first molecular image inside cells. This has opened up prospects for the study of complex biological systems and processes.

Scientists from the University of New South Wales inAustralia has been able to further improve the device. They explained that individual molecules could already be observed with ultra-high resolution microscopes. But the interactions between these molecules occur on a scale four times smaller - they were inaccessible to researchers.

"The reason why localization accuracysingle-molecular microscopes is usually about 20-30 nm, is that the microscope actually moves at the time we detect the signal. Using existing ultra-high resolution devices, we cannot determine whether one protein is related to another because the distance between them is less than the uncertainty of their position, ”said Professor Katarina Gaus, who participated in the development.

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To resolve this issue, the commandresearchers created “autonomous feedback loops” - they allow to align the optical path during the observation process. So they taught the device to transmit a picture accurate to a nanometer.

“Conventional microscopy methods would not be able to accuratelymeasure small changes - for example, the distance between signaling molecules in fixed and activated T cells. They differ by only 4–7 nm. Now it can be done even under normal laboratory conditions, ”added Gaus.