Nature Sub-Journal: First to reveal hidden nanostructures in cells and tissues

Within a living cell, proteins and other molecules are usually tightly bound together

The approach builds on a widely used technique, the augmentation microscope technique, which was developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and it should allow scientists to see molecular and cellular structures

"It's clear that the scaling process will reveal many new biological discoveries

Using this technique, Boyden and his colleagues demonstrated that they could image

Deblina Sarkar, assistant professor at the Media Lab and one of the study's lead authors, said: "Our technique, which we call augmented reveal, enables visualization of these previously hidden nanostructures, using hardware

Lead authors include MIT postdoc Jinyoung Kang and Asmamaw Wassie

De-crowding

Imaging specific proteins or other molecules within cells needs to be labeled with fluorescent tags carried by the antibody, which bind

This is an obstacle to traditional imaging and one of the original enlarged microscopes that Boyden first developed in 2015

To overcome this hurdle, researchers must find a way to make the tissue expand while maintaining the integrity

With so many markerable proteins, the researchers were able to identify tiny cellular structures within synapses, which are densely packed protein-filled connections between neurons

Kang said: "This technique can be used to answer many biological questions about dysfunction of synaptic proteins, which are associated with neurodegenerative diseases

New mode

The researchers also used their new technique to image β amyloid, a peptide

Boyden and his team members are now collaborating with other labs to study cellular structures

The researchers are also working to improve the technology so that they can image up to 20 proteins

Sarkar and her team, on the other hand, are developing miniature wirelessly powered nanoelectronic devices