Bridging the gap in fluorescence microscopy

Researchers from CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences have developed a new imaging technique for bio-molecules such as membrane proteins.

Called Differential Aberration Correction (DAC) microscopy, the methodology uses software improvements rather than new hardware to overcome one of the main problems experienced using conventional fluorescence microscopy – chromatic aberrations.

It promises to bridge the gap between the most popular technique for imaging molecules at the 1-10 nanometer range, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), and conventional diffraction limited microscopy, which can image down to 300 nm.

The team, led by Dr Pascal Vallotton of CSIRO’s biotech imaging division, developed the technique as a complement to the far more difficult and complex x-ray crystallography, which requires scientists to crystallize proteins before imaging them with x-ray diffraction.

The new technique may allow researchers to one day image membrane proteins in their own labs, in solution and in vivo, Vallotton said.

DAC also promises to gain better resolution than FRET, at even smaller distances.

For the full story, see the March/April edition of Australian Life Scientist.