Sharpening microscope images

Biological samples bend light in unpredictable ways, returning difficult-to-interpret information to the microscope and distorting the resulting image. To overcome this, new imaging technology developed at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Farm Research Campus rapidly corrects for these distortions and sharpens high-resolution images over large volumes of tissue.

To improve the method, researchers focused on devising an adaptive optics strategy for new microscopy methods that image dynamic processes non-invasively and at high resolution. Such technologies -- such as the Bessel beam plane illumination microscope that Betzig's team developed in 2011 and the simultaneous multiview light sheet microscope developed by Janelia lab head Philipp Keller in 2012 -- perform well on cells or small embryos, but image quality degrades in larger samples.

Those microscopes are used exclusively to image transparent samples, narrowing the scope of the problem.

For further information, refer to:

Kai Wang, Daniel E Milkie, Ankur Saxena, Peter Engerer, Thomas Misgeld, Marianne E Bronner, Jeff Mumm, Eric Betzig. Rapid adaptive optical recovery of optimal resolution over large volumes. Nature Methods, 2014; DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.2925

Posted by Tim Sandle