When we try to study organisms under the microscope, we look through the lens to see what the cellular world beholds us but a team from MIT and Harvard wanted to reinvent the microscope in order to give us a whole new perspective in studying cells and other microscopic organisms.
The new technique, dubbed DNA microscopy, uses only a pipette and some liquid reagents. Rather than monitoring photons, here the team relies on “bar codes” that chemically tag onto biomolecules.
Like cell phone towers, the tags amplify, broadcasting their signals outward. An algorithm can then piece together the captured location data and transform those GPS-like digits into rainbow-colored photos.
Of course, this won't replace optical microscopes but what it allows us to do is to place ourselves on the soles of the cells and look at things the way they would, says study author Dr. Joshua Weinstein.
There are several reasons why the team wanted to develop this new technique but one of the main reasons is that scientific objectives continue to expand and we try to delve deeper into the things we study so that we could have a better understanding of them. And that requires equipment which perform specific functions.
Learn more about it on Singularity Hub.
(Image credit: J. Weinstein et al./Cell 2019)