| Subject: | Eric Betzig lecture super-resolution and light sheet micrscopy on 11th December 2013 |
|---|---|
| Date: | Tue, 5 Nov 2013 15:35:16 +0000 |
| From: | French, Paul (PHOT) M W (Photonics) <paul.french@imperial.ac.uk> |
| To: | Spitaler, Martin <m.spitaler@imperial.ac.uk> |
Dear Martin,
Eric Betzig is one of the leading pioneers
of both PALM microscopy for super-resolved imaging and light
sheet microscopy for rapid imaging of live organisms. This
promises to be an excellent talk. Please could you advertise
it, e.g. through your FILM mailing list and the London
super-resolution club.
Best
wishes,
Paul
Optical microscopy has remained at the forefront of biological discovery for centuries. However, as our understanding of biological systems as increased, so has the complexity of our questions and the need for more advanced optical tools to answer them. For example, there is a hundred-fold gap between the resolution of conventional optical microscopy and the scale at which molecules self-assemble to form sub-cellular structures.
Furthermore, as we attempt to peer more closely at the dynamic complexity of living systems, the actinic glare of our microscopes can adversely influence or even kill the specimens we hope to study. Finally, the heterogeneity of life, ranging from organelles within single cells to specialized cell types within tissues and organs, can seriously impede our ability to image at high resolution, due to the resulting warping and scattering of light rays.
I will describe three areas focused on addressing these challenges: super-resolution microscopy for imaging specific proteins within cells down to near-molecular resolution; plane illumination microscopy using non-diffracting beams for noninvasive imaging of three-dimensional dynamics within live cells and embryos; and adaptive optics to recover optimal images from within optically heterogeneous specimens