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.