The application of tiny glass beads of barium titanate with a very high refractive index (1.92) is sufficient for a fourfold improvement of resolution.
Hui Yang and colleagues from the Laboratory for Microsystems at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne distributed the 40 to 100 micron small transparent glass beads on a film of water or oil. According to a press release, this process can deliver sharp images of cell components such as chromosomes and mitochondria using a standard microscope and without high additional expenses. Even the behaviour of cell organelles under the influence of pharmaceutically active substances can be observed exactly.
The researchers have published their findings in the scientific journal "Small".
Source: http://www.wissenschaft-aktuell.de/
Original paper: Yang, H., Moullan, N., Auwerx, J. and Gijs, MAM (2013), Super-Resolution Biological Microscopy Using Virtual Imaging by a Microsphere Nanoscope. Small. doi: 10.1002/smll.201302942
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Monday, 17 February 2014 20:47
Microscopy: Super-Resolution Using Barium Titanate Beads Featured
Smallest structures on a scale of 100 nanometres can be made clearly visible under a simple laboratory microscope at a low cost using tiny glass beads distributed across a cell sample.
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