3 ms·

Here's a pretty nice simulation/explanation of what makes STED work [1]. There are similar competing technologies that do essentially the same thing in order t

by toufka 12y ago

Here's a pretty nice simulation/explanation of what makes STED work [1]. There are similar competing technologies that do essentially the same thing in order to arrive at sub-difraction-limited images including STORM & Structured Illumination. Google around for STORM, STED and the prettiest pictures will come from 'cytoskeletal' features, though some really interesting nano-mater-scale studies have been conducted with respect to synapses, the nuclear pore, and a number of other sub-cellular structures that would have otherwise been extraordinarily difficult. [1] http://microscopyu.com/tutorials/flash/superresolution/stedvsstorm/index.html http://microscopyu.com/tutorials/flash/superresolution/stedv...

Osmium 12y ago
>There are similar competing technologies that do essentially the same thing in order to arrive at sub-difraction-limited images including STORM & Structured Illumination. Thanks for the info. Your mention of STORM led me to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super-resolution_microscopy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super-resolution_microscopy Given all these competing technologies, could you comment on why the Nobel was given to STED/PALM/STORM(?) in particular?
- toufka 12y ago
  Primarily because they were 'first'. Part of the Nobel was awarded to Betzig & Moerner who helped make single particles identifiable. They developed some of the chemistries and molecules to make the microscopy possible. Hell did a bit more hard microscopy - he made the scopes, and took the photos using those single-particle techniques. I've never actually used STED, (PALM & STORM are the same, simultaneously co-invented). I have used STORM, and I think the reason is because they're technically a bit more straightforward and require some nice software on a standard scope rather than a bit more complicated scope. So STED, while a bit older, I think might be a bit harder to do technically than the newer (computational) techniques. All of them are super cool and in the past 5 years are quickly becoming 'standard techniques' that really will change the way people think about the structure of cells. They've increased our ability to peer into live, unperturbed cells from a resolution of ~200nm to as few as ~10nm - or the difference from being able to see that there is protein structure, to seeing what the structure is.

by toufka 12y ago

Osmium 12y ago

>There are similar competing technologies that do essentially the same thing in order to arrive at sub-difraction-limited images including STORM & Structured Illumination. Thanks for the info. Your mention of STORM led me to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super-resolution_microscopy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super-resolution_microscopy Given all these competing technologies, could you comment on why the Nobel was given to STED/PALM/STORM(?) in particular?

toufka 12y ago
Primarily because they were 'first'. Part of the Nobel was awarded to Betzig & Moerner who helped make single particles identifiable. They developed some of the chemistries and molecules to make the microscopy possible. Hell did a bit more hard microscopy - he made the scopes, and took the photos using those single-particle techniques. I've never actually used STED, (PALM & STORM are the same, simultaneously co-invented). I have used STORM, and I think the reason is because they're technically a bit more straightforward and require some nice software on a standard scope rather than a bit more complicated scope. So STED, while a bit older, I think might be a bit harder to do technically than the newer (computational) techniques. All of them are super cool and in the past 5 years are quickly becoming 'standard techniques' that really will change the way people think about the structure of cells. They've increased our ability to peer into live, unperturbed cells from a resolution of ~200nm to as few as ~10nm - or the difference from being able to see that there is protein structure, to seeing what the structure is.