Each week, I eagerly anticipate the Tuesday “Science Times” section of The New York Times. The October 23rd edition showed a super-resolution strip of 16 images in 26 seconds.1 The images show development of the stomach, pancreas, and liver in a living mouse embryo. These images will be important in understanding the critical early stages of development of individual organs in mammals. Real-time images are expected to provide a basis for diagnosing abnormal development by comparison with normal during periods of rapid growth.
Ref. 2 shows several strips obtained automatically from two light sheet instruments. Vector plotting of the cells facilitates tracing the individual cells backwards in time to the origin of the organ. The original article, from the Keller Lab at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Research Campus (Ashburn, VA), was posted online on October 11, 2018.
A day later, a webinar sponsored by Andor, a division of Oxford Instruments (Abingdon, Oxon, U.K.), described three open-source approaches to high-speed, super-resolution microscopy. Nano-Super-Resolution Radial Fluctuations (SRRF) is a technique designed for nanomicroscopy of living cells and tissue. SRRF’s claim to fame is that it is very fast, which reduces photobleaching by several powers of 10 compared to single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) and stimulated emission depletion (STED). SRRF uses an Andor camera supplemented with open-source imaging processing cards.
Andor’s NanoJ-SQUIRREL (super-resolution quantitative image rating and reporting error locations) uses a spreading function to optimize image parameters. It compares diffraction-limited images with super-resolution images of the same volume to compute. Image quality is outstanding.
The NanoJ-Fluidics open-source device automates complex experimental sequences in preparing samples and staining them with reagents. Specimens can be live or fixed cells. Automation of the process improves reproducibility. An archive of the webinar will be available shortly.
These advances merit attention, since speed has increased by more than 1000 times in the last year or so.
References
- Baumgaertner, E. Just a blob of cells? Well, just wait 26 Seconds. The New York Times Oct 23, 2018, pg D2. Article is online at https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-independent/20181025/282376925567271.
- https://www.janelia.org/news/new-microscope-offers-4-d-look-at-embryonic-development-in-living-mice
- In toto imaging and reconstruction of post-implantation mouse development at the single-cell level
Robert L. Stevenson, Ph.D., is Editor Emeritus, American Laboratory/Labcompare; e-mail: [email protected]
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