Purchase / procurement of a 3D MINFLUX microscope Text automatically translated in your browsing language Automatically translated

Fluorescence microscopy is one of the most important methods in the field of modern biomedical research due to its potentially high specificity and sensitivity. By being able to generate transgenic cell lines in which proteins of interest are labeled with fluorescent proteins, cellular processes can be made dynamically visible in living cell cultures, tissues and organisms. This information can be used to draw valuable conclusions about the localization, interaction and migration of molecules in biological preparations. While most imaging techniques are limited in their spatial resolution by the so-called diffraction limit, a number of new microscopy techniques known as superresolution microscopy have been developed in recent decades. Many of these methods exchange temporal resolution for spatial resolution and require illuminance levels that are challenging when working with living biological specimens. This point is of great importance for current research at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics (MPIBP). Some experiments require extremely high spatial resolution (below 5 nm), with low phototoxic damage and photobleaching at the same time. The microscope applied for has a wide range of applications and is used for a large number of projects involving various departments of the institute. Confocal microscopes are limited in their spatial resolution by the physics of light diffraction. In recent decades, a variety of so-called superresolution techniques have been developed to overcome this limitation. The different solutions differ in the achievable spatial resolution, but also in the temporal resolution, as well as in the size of the imaging field and the amount of light to which the sample must be exposed. Experiments with living samples require gentle lighting conditions and often high temporal resolution, which limits the selection of microscopy techniques. For the planned experiments, the MPIBP requires state-of-the-art instruments that not only provide robust multi-color live images with confocal resolution, but also expand our instruments for super-resolution in living cells in multi-color experiments. To determine the molecular architecture of these multicomponent complexes and their relationship to subcellular structures, multicolor imaging with a spatial resolution of 10 nm or better is required. A large number of planned experiments require imaging conditions that go beyond the capabilities of state-of-the-art high-resolution microscopes. These include structural experiments that require very high spatial resolution and are performed on immovable or living samples, as well as experiments to study dynamic processes, such as pore formation or mitochondrial fusion/splitting, which require significantly shorter recording times and gentler imaging conditions. For these experiments, spatial resolution is also crucial - it must be far above the diffraction limit. At the same time, they require gentle conditions and at the same time must offer a high spatial and temporal resolution. These requirements cannot be fully met with the existing instruments at the MPI for Biophysics/Brain Research. The only technology currently available that provides the high spatial-temporal resolution required for studying living cells is the recently introduced MINFLUX microscope. By combining localization and STED microscopy concepts, the microscope can determine the exact position (2 nm and 3 nm for 2D and 3D MINIFLUX respectively) of individual fluorophores in a short time (< 100 μs) from a small number of photons. This enables both ultra-high-resolution imaging (which far exceeds techniques such as localization or STED microscopy) and high-speed tracking of individual molecules while maintaining low illuminance levels required to control photobleaching and phototoxicity. Measurements with this precision require extremely stable positioning of the sample to avoid artifacts during marking localization due to unwanted sample movements. The MINFLUX microscope contains a patented solution to this challenge, which enables a long-term stabilization of the sample in the sub-nanometer range (Patent Germany: DE 10 2020 127 071 B3, EU: EP 3 988 989 A1). Text automatically translated in your browsing language Automatically translated

38515200 - Fluorescent microscopes