Super-resolution (SR) microscopy is an expansive and developing scientific field that employs techniques used in physics and chemistry to image biological systems on the scale of nanometres. A nanometre (nm) is 1 × 10–9 m, which is one-millionth of a millimetre. Being able to see things at this scale requires sophisticated equipment.
SR experiments force fluorescent molecules (i.e. molecules that can emit light of a specific wavelength) in a sample to switch on and off rapidly. Recording these ‘blinking’ events over time builds up a picture that encodes positional information as x, y and (sometimes) z coordinates. Data obtained in this way have shed great insight into biological systems, which would look blurry through a traditional microscope, due to the diffractive nature of light.
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