PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

New microscopes at NIH reveal live, developing cells in unprecedented 3-D clarity

Biology moves into the third dimension, may help observe how a brain develops and viruses attack

2013-10-25
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Jessica Meade
nibibpress@mail.nih.gov
301-496-3500
NIH/National Institute of Biomedical Imaging & Bioengineering
New microscopes at NIH reveal live, developing cells in unprecedented 3-D clarity Biology moves into the third dimension, may help observe how a brain develops and viruses attack

Researchers at NIH have developed two new microscopes, both the first of their kind. The first captures small, fast moving organisms at an unprecedented rate and the second displays large cell samples in three dimensions while decreasing the amount of harmful light exposure to the cells. Both microscopes surpass in clarity any other currently on the market.

The first microscope allows researchers to obtain fast moving images at double the spatial resolution of a conventional microscope. This provides a vastly clearer picture, enabling cell components that were once quite blurry to now become sharply defined; the difference is similar to that of a 1990's-era standard TV set versus today's high-definition TVs. The microscope is also 10 to 100 times faster than traditional technologies.

"It's always helpful to look at smaller and smaller things," said Hari Shroff, Ph.D., at NIH's National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) lab chief of NIBIB's section on High Resolution Optical Imaging (HROI.) "Looking at a fixed cell at high resolution can tell you where different parts of the cell are at any given moment; but because much of biology depends on the movement of very small proteins finding each other and interacting, we really needed to look at how things move in a live cell."

The problem is that the higher the resolution, the harder it is to eliminate the blur from both light diffraction (the glow that sometimes occurs as light bends around objects) and the motion going on inside the live cell. Traditional linear structured illumination microscopy (SIM) cannot maintain the high resolution desired by researchers when the sample is moving quickly.

Shroff and his research fellow Andrew York, Ph.D., found an answer to these problems with their new instant linear structured illumination microscopy (iSIM), described in a paper published in Nature Methods on October 6th. Building on traditional SIM technology, the iSIM allows real-time, 3-D super resolution imaging of small, rapidly moving structures—such as individual blood cells moving through a live zebrafish embryo. This kind of imaging is impossible with other microscopes; the ones that are fast enough to record rapid movement do not have a high enough resolution to see inside the cells; and other microscopes with similar resolution are just too slow to capture that amount of motion clearly.

If a photographer wants to take a better photograph, he can either buy a camera with a better lens and higher pixels or he can modify the picture after it's taken, using Photoshop. The principle is similar in microscopy. Instead of approaching the problem by creating better imaging software that helps to increase the resolution after the fact, as most high resolution microscopes do, Shroff and his lab developed a microscope with better lenses and mirrors so that the higher resolution is captured in the original image.

"What we've essentially done is eliminate the need for extensive computer processing by creating a better microscope at every stage of data gathering," said Shroff. "Before, we relied on computer software and algorithms to do things like sort through hundreds of images, eliminate out of focus light, and combine the individual images together. Now, we can do most of that optically with the microscope itself." This means that researchers can skip the time-consuming steps in which computers process the massive amounts of data normally required for such high resolution imaging. Now they will be able to see the images instantly instead of waiting hours or sometimes days, and the data itself takes about 1% of the hard drive space as that produced by previous microscopes.

VIDEO: Using a new type of microscopy developed in the High Resolution Optical Imaging lab at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, researchers in Hari Shroff's lab are able...
Click here for more information.

The second microscope, described in a paper published in Nature Biotechnology online on October 13, builds on selective plane illumination microscopy (SPIM). Traditional microscopes expose the whole sample to light even though they are only imaging one small section at a time. However, just as the sun can damage skin cells, too much light exposure can damage or even kill biological samples like embryos. SPIM uses a thin beam of light to illuminate only the single plane that is currently being imaged so the biological sample is not damaged by overexposure to light. However, the technology is limited because looking at a 3-D object from only one point of view does not provide a complete representation of the object -- in the same way that viewing a globe from one perspective gives no information about what is on the other side of the world. Traditionally, SPIM microscopes rotate the sample so that they can clearly see all the dimensions, but this severely limits the imaging speed and can increase the damage done to the cells from light exposure because of the many extra images taken at multiple angles. As a result imaging is also slowed down, and the ability to capture much of the fast moving cellular motion is lost.

In order to combat this problem, Shroff and NIBIB staff scientist Yicong, Wu, Ph.D., developed a dual-view SPIM (diSPIM) microscope with two separate detection cameras. The cameras are set at a 90 degree angle to capture perpendicular views of the sample. This perpendicular view results in undistorted 3-dimensional images, and since only two views are acquired, the microscope can still capture events at very high speed. Additionally, with relatively simple modifications, traditional single camera SPIM microscopes can be converted into the dual-camera diSPIM. The real challenge in developing this technology was to find a way to combine the two disparate images from the two cameras, which required the creation of a new post-processing software algorithm.

The increased speed at which the new dual microscope can image the cells allows for clearer images of even very fast moving viruses. Being able to see how a virus enters a cell, and once it's in, how it moves around, could go a long way towards scientists' understanding of how infections occur and potentially how to fight them more effectively. In the same way, observing the migration of cancer cells in a 3-D environment could unlock information on how cancer grows, finds nutrients, and spreads.

"Biology is three-dimensional, not two dimensional. The nucleus of a cell is spherical, not circular, and as scientists, it's up to us to find ways to observe cells as accurately as possible, Shroff said. "We're really moving biology into the third dimension with this microscope." There's a lot of attention right now on how neurons fire and interact with each other, but the truth is, we don't even understand how a brain develops—even in the most simple of organisms like C. elegans, a worm with only 300 brain cells. We don't know why brain cells go where they do or what determines their organization. We can't understand more about this process without observing it, and that's something that these devices can help to provide."

The Shroff lab has already begun multiple collaborations with biological labs both inside the NIH as well as external institutions, including Yale, Sloan Kettering, and the University of Connecticut Health Center.



INFORMATION:



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Oregon researchers say supplement cuts muscle loss in knee replacements

2013-10-25
Oregon researchers say supplement cuts muscle loss in knee replacements Package of 8 essential amino acids, taken after physical therapy, also helps to speed recovery EUGENE, Ore. -- (Oct. 25, 2013) -- Twenty grams of essential amino acids taken twice daily for a week ...

IUPUI physicist collaborates in new study of the cell's 'shredder'

2013-10-25
IUPUI physicist collaborates in new study of the cell's 'shredder' INDIANAPOLIS -- Steve Pressé, Ph.D., assistant professor of physics in the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, collaborates ...

First gene detected for most common form of mitral valve prolapse

2013-10-25
First gene detected for most common form of mitral valve prolapse Scientists also found that gene disrupts heart valve development & growth Research on the DNA of a large multi-generational family has provided a genetic clue that enabled scientists to ...

Study finds that paying people to become kidney donors could be cost-effective

2013-10-25
Study finds that paying people to become kidney donors could be cost-effective Even a small increase in donors would save money and prolong lives Washington, DC (October 24, 2013) — A strategy where living kidney donors are paid $10,000, with the assumption that ...

Hands-free ultrasound device with clot-busting drug safe for stroke patients

2013-10-25
Hands-free ultrasound device with clot-busting drug safe for stroke patients American Heart Association Rapid Access Journal Report A hands-free ultrasound device combined with a clot-busting drug was safe for ischemic stroke patients in a phase II pilot study, ...

Scientists solve mystery of odd patterns of oxygen in solar system's earliest rocks

2013-10-25
Scientists solve mystery of odd patterns of oxygen in solar system's earliest rocks Reaction replicates formation of first silicate dust; oxygen isotopes match mix seen in stony meteorites Cosmochemists have solved a long standing mystery in the formation ...

Increasing toxicity of algal blooms tied to nutrient enrichment and climate change

2013-10-25
Increasing toxicity of algal blooms tied to nutrient enrichment and climate change CORVALLIS, Ore. – Nutrient enrichment and climate change are posing yet another concern of growing importance: an apparent increase in the toxicity of some algal blooms in freshwater ...

Unique chemistry in hydrogen catalysts

2013-10-25
Unique chemistry in hydrogen catalysts Making hydrogen easily and cheaply is a dream goal for clean, sustainable energy. Bacteria have been doing exactly that for billions of years, and now chemists at the University of California, Davis, and Stanford University ...

Yeast, human stem cells drive discovery of new Parkinson's disease drug targets

2013-10-25
Yeast, human stem cells drive discovery of new Parkinson's disease drug targets CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (October 24, 2013) – Using a discovery platform whose components range from yeast cells to human stem cells, Whitehead Institute scientists have identified ...

A thermoelectric materials emulator

2013-10-25
A thermoelectric materials emulator Behavior of thermoelectric materials simulated Discovered in the 19th century, thermoelectric materials have the remarkable property that heating them creates a small electrical current. But enhancing this current to a level ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Being consistently physically active in adulthood linked to 30–40% lower risk of death

Nerve pain drug gabapentin linked to increased dementia, cognitive impairment risks

Children’s social care involvement common to nearly third of UK mums who died during perinatal period

‘Support, not judgement’: Study explores links between children’s social care involvement and maternal deaths

Ethnic minority and poorer children more likely to die in intensive care

Major progress in fertility preservation after treatment for cancer of the lymphatic system

Fewer complications after additional ultrasound in pregnant women who feel less fetal movement

Environmental impact of common pesticides seriously underestimated

The Milky Way could be teeming with more satellite galaxies than previously thought

New study reveals surprising reproductive secrets of a cricket-hunting parasitoid fly

Media Tip Sheet: Symposia at ESA2025

NSF CAREER Award will power UVA engineer’s research to improve drug purification

Tiny parasitoid flies show how early-life competition shapes adult success

New coating for glass promises energy-saving windows

Green spaces boost children’s cognitive skills and strengthen family well-being

Ancient trees dying faster than expected in Eastern Oregon

Study findings help hone precision of proven CVD risk tool

Most patients with advanced melanoma who received pre-surgical immunotherapy remain alive and disease free four years later

Introducing BioEmu: A generative AI Model that enables high-speed and accurate prediction of protein structural ensembles

Replacing mutated microglia with healthy microglia halts progression of genetic neurological disease in mice and humans

New research shows how tropical plants manage rival insect tenants by giving them separate ‘flats’

Condo-style living helps keep the peace inside these ant plants

Climate change action could dramatically limit rising UK heatwave deaths

Annual heat-related deaths projected to increase significantly due to climate and population change

Researchers discover new way cells protect themselves from damage

Rivers choose their path based on erosion — a discovery that could transform flood planning and restoration

New discovery reveals dopamine operates with surgical precision, not as a broad signal

New AI tool gives a helping hand to x ray diagnosis

New Leicester study reveals hidden heart risks in women with Type 2 Diabetes

Over 400 different types of nerve cell have been grown – far more than ever before

[Press-News.org] New microscopes at NIH reveal live, developing cells in unprecedented 3-D clarity
Biology moves into the third dimension, may help observe how a brain develops and viruses attack