Docentföreläsning; Fluorescence Microscopy

by Hans Blom (KTH, Biomolekylär fysik)

Monday 24 Jan 2011, 13:15 → 14:00 Europe/Stockholm

FA32

Optical microscopy has been a favorite tool of biologists for unlocking life’s mysteries since the 18th century. Using visible light to investigate fluorescently labelled biological samples takes advantage of a noninvasive probe character and a selective and specific marking of investigated species. Adding high magnification objectives allows one to observe small objects; adding high sensitive detectors allow investigation of single-molecule concentrations. In this talk, the path fluorescence microscopy has taken in the last decade will be discussed. Principles and examples of how fluorescence allows localizing and analyzing single molecules at the nanoscale will be given, and how the Abbe’ diffraction barrier, constraining the resolution of standard optical microscopy to about half the wavelength (x = /2NA), has been possible to circumvent. Possibilities of this emerging super-resolution fluorescence microscopy field will be highlighted.