I nåbelt sällskap

Så fick vi då Bolagets kommentar till förra veckans nobla info om Stefan W. Hells första forskarrapport där PHI,s Holomonitor har en framträdande roll.
Bolaget sätter Stefans upptäckter i ett nobelt sammanhang.
Vad kan vara mer passande än att nämna ännu en Nobelpristagare som med sina upptäckter inom mikroskopin bidragit till dess utveckling?

Working at different scales

HoloMonitor (left) monitors the behavior of the individual cells in a living cell population. At a smaller scale, super-resolving fluorescence micro­scopy (right) scrutinizes (swe: granskar) the interior of a single cell in great detail.

The super-resolution dilemma

As pointed out by one of its inventors, Nobel Prize winner Eric Betzig, super-resolving fluorescence microscopy has a problem. The higher resolution it achieves, the more destructive it becomes, making super-resolving fluores­cence micro­scopy in its current form unsuitable for imaging anything that is alive.

Proving the improved

Headed by another Nobel Prize winner and inventor of the technique, researchers at the Max Planck Institute and at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) are working on improving the live cell imaging capabilities of super-resolving fluorescence microscopy by improving the special dyes that the technology requires.
In sharp contrast to super-resolved microscopes, HoloMonitor images and measures cells without using invasive dyes or reagents. Using HoloMonitor, the German scientists proved that cells stay alive and continue to divide after being stained with the improved super-resolution dyes.

Travelling among cells

As travelers, we all become aware that scale matters. We start out by using a large-scale map to find our way to the city we are visiting. When we reach the city, we pull out the small-scale map to find our hotel. Cell biology is no different. To find interesting cells (cities), cell biologists need a low-resolution micro­scope (large-scale map). To study the interior details of a cell (city streets), a high-resolution microscope (small-scale map) is needed.

Combining scale to find the rare

HoloMonitor has the ability to non-invasively characterize a large number of cells. This allows HoloMonitor to identify and guide super-resolving imaging capabilities to specific cells in a cell population. By combining technologies and scale in this way, a new game-changing tool for medical science would be created that allows scientists to identify and study rare living cells in super-resolved detail.

The rare and deadly

Metastases are believed to originate from a rare type of tumor cells known as cancer stem cells. A combined tool for identifying and studying rare cells would provide cancer researchers with new information to better under­stand the nature of cancer stem cells, and hopefully allow them to develop treatments against these rare and deadly cells. 

Min kommentar

Bolaget är i mitt tycke lite blygsamma att lyfta fram Stefan W. Hells resultat åstadkomna med hjälp av Holomonitorn. I samband med rapportens offentliggörande använde jag uttrycket Referensverktyg om M4:an. 

Det epitetet tycker jag passar bra i dessa Nobla sammanhang.

Den uppmärksamme noterar för övrigt Bolagets kommentar i sista meningen: A combined tool......

Vad ringer för klocka hos oss alla PHI,are?