wired.com/news/medtech/...,64545,00.html
A new microscope that lets scientists peer deeper into living organisms than ever before has been developed by researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory.
"I've seen some very striking movies from them," said Scott Fraser, professor in the bioengineering department at Caltech and director of the Biological Imaging Center.
"Right now, the study of developmental processes like organogenesis (origin and development of organs) is based on a series of snapshots taken, sometimes at great labor, of what the structure of a forming organ might be," Fraser said. "Then the researcher had to almost guess how snapshot one became snapshot two. What (the new microscopes) will allow people to do is actually watch that process take place. Every time that's happened, new insights have occurred."
The technology is called Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy, or SPIM, and it allows scientists, for the first time, to study relatively large (2 to 3 millimeter) live organisms from many different angles, under real conditions and with minimal disruption to the specimen.
A paper detailing the new device will appear in the journal Science Friday.
A new microscope that lets scientists peer deeper into living organisms than ever before has been developed by researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory.
"I've seen some very striking movies from them," said Scott Fraser, professor in the bioengineering department at Caltech and director of the Biological Imaging Center.
"Right now, the study of developmental processes like organogenesis (origin and development of organs) is based on a series of snapshots taken, sometimes at great labor, of what the structure of a forming organ might be," Fraser said. "Then the researcher had to almost guess how snapshot one became snapshot two. What (the new microscopes) will allow people to do is actually watch that process take place. Every time that's happened, new insights have occurred."
The technology is called Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy, or SPIM, and it allows scientists, for the first time, to study relatively large (2 to 3 millimeter) live organisms from many different angles, under real conditions and with minimal disruption to the specimen.
A paper detailing the new device will appear in the journal Science Friday.
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