Carl Zeiss MicroImaging GmbH
has received a license from the University of California for the commercialization
of "superresolution", a microscopy technique offering extraordinarily
high resolution.
Photograph of neuronal growth cone with widefield microscopy (left) and SR-SIM, staining for tubulin (red) and F-actin (green). Specimen: M. Fritz and M. Bastmeyer, University of Karlsruhe (TH), Germany.
The technique called Structured Illumination Microscopy (SIM) was developed
by scientists Mats G.L. Gustafsson, John W. Sedat and David A. Agard at the
University of San Francisco (UCSF). The technology overcomes the classical diffraction
limit to microscopic resolution by combining a special illumination pattern
with state-of-the-art computational image analysis. Compared to a conventional
microscope, the resulting superresolution images have up to double the resolution
in all three spatial directions.
The agreement grants Carl Zeiss the right to integrate the SIM technique into
its microscope systems. With the ELYRA S.1 system, the supperresolution SIM
technology will be available on standard microscopes for the first time.
With its ELYRA PS.1 system, Carl Zeiss is offering the combination of SIM with
PAL-M technology, a second superresolution technique (Photoactivated Localization
Microscopy), in one single system for the very first time. This considerably
expands the experimental possibilities of modern light microscopy, opening up
new horizons in cell biology and neurological research in particular.
Posted October 17th, 2009