Licencing agreement for high-resolution images in medical research
STED microscopy creates high-resolution images far below the diffraction limit of visible light. However, the technique’s engineering aspects remain comparatively complex, which impedes its dissemination and use. A technology called EASYDOnut, developed by the the German Cancer Research Center and the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, simplifies the optical system considerably and has now been licenced by spin-off Abberior GmbH. EASYDOnut precisely guides the laser beams of the STED microscope onto the sample being investigated by means of a single optical element. This innovation can encourage the spread of STED microscopy and benefit medical research. STED microscopy permits significant information to be obtained, even from living human cells.
Living cells can be investigated with modern fluorescence microscopy. In this process, suitable molecules within the cells are tagged with fluorescent dyes, which are then excited with light so they fluoresce. However, using conventional microscopy, no adjacent details closer than 200 nm to one another can be distinguished (due to diffraction limiting and resolution limited by the Abbe number). The reason for this lies in the wave nature of light and the inherent spatial expansion of a beam’s focal point.
With STED microscopy, this focal point illuminating the fluorescing sample is made smaller by preventing the region surrounding the spot of light from fluorescing. This is accomplished by projecting a ring-shaped, second beam of light co-axially with the main beam, but at a different wavelength, one which suppresses fluorescence of the excited dye molecules at the edge of the main beam through what is known as stimulated emission.
Thanks to EASYDOnut, both beams of light can originate from a single point source, so there is no need for time-consuming alignment of the beams with one another. That saves users the cost of frequent technical maintenance. The big advantage of the EASYDOnut system lies in its very simple operation. “As a leading manufacturer of commercially available fluorescent dyes for new techniques in microscopy, the EASYDOnut system we offer our customers is a carefully tuned pairing of optical components and dyes for STED microscopy,” according to Dr. Gerald Donnert, Managing Director of Abberior GmbH.
The new technique was developed jointly with the inventor of STED microscopy, Prof. Stefan Hell from the MPI for Biophysical Chemistry, together with Dr. Johann Engelhardt and Dr. Matthias Reuss from the Optical Nanoscopy Department of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) as well as Dr. Volker Westphal and Dr. Lars Kastrup from the MPI for Biophysical Chemistry. The invention has been patented and licensed by Max Planck Innovation and the DKFZ Office of Technology Transfer.
“The innovation simplifies the use of STED microscopes considerably. Observing biological processes in the micro-world of cells is simplified as well as improved, and thus it opens up new paths in biological research and medical diagnostics,” explains Dr. Bernd Ctortecka, Patent and Licensing Manager of Max Planck Innovation. EASYDOnut can be manufactured in an almost unlimited variety of optical wavelength combinations.
About Max Planck Innovation
As the technology transfer organisation of the Max Planck Society, Max Planck Innovation is the link between industry and basic research. Our interdisciplinary team advises and supports scientists in assessing inventions, filing patent applications, as well as founding companies. We offer industry centralised access to innovations of the Max Planck Institutes. In doing so, we fulfil an important mission: the transfer of results from basic research into commercially useful and socially beneficial products.
About Abberior
Abberior GmbH is a spin-off from the MPI for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen and specialises in the design, manufacture, and marketing of fluorescent markers for high-resolution microscope technologies such as STED, RESOLFT, PALM, STORM, and GSDIM, for example. Abberior GmbH is the only source worldwide for fluorescent labelling that is specifically tested and qualified for high-resolution optical applications. The optical components of EASYDOnut (phase plates) offer simple and robust implementation of STED or RESOLFT methods and complete the product range available from Abberior in the area of high-resolution microscopy.
With more than 3,000 employees, the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) is Germany’s largest biomedical research institute. DKFZ scientists identify cancer risk factors, investigate how cancer progresses and develop new cancer prevention strategies. They are also developing new methods to diagnose tumors more precisely and treat cancer patients more successfully. The DKFZ's Cancer Information Service (KID) provides patients, interested citizens and experts with individual answers to questions relating to cancer.
To transfer promising approaches from cancer research to the clinic and thus improve the prognosis of cancer patients, the DKFZ cooperates with excellent research institutions and university hospitals throughout Germany:
The DKFZ is 90 percent financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and 10 percent by the state of Baden-Württemberg. The DKFZ is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers.
