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Published on: March 6, 2018
PALM and STORM: Into large fields and high-throughput microscopy with sCMOS detectors
Pedro Almada1, Siân Culley1, Ricardo Henriques1
1Quantitative Imaging and NanoBiophysics Group, MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology and Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, WC1E 6BT London, United Kingdom.
Super-resolution microscopy techniques like Photo-Activation Localization Microscopy (PALM) and Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STORM) achieve higher resolution. Advancements in sensors and algorithms now enable high-throughput SMLM, overcoming previous speed limitations.
Area of Science:
- Biophysics
- Optical Microscopy
- Cell Biology
Background:
- Single Molecule Localization Microscopy (SMLM) offers super-resolution by overcoming light diffraction limits.
- Techniques like Photo-Activation Localization Microscopy (PALM) and Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STORM) reconstruct high-resolution images from single-molecule localizations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To address the trade-off between imaging speed and resolution in SMLM.
- To explore adapting hardware for scientific Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (sCMOS) sensors for high-throughput SMLM.
Main Methods:
- Acquiring hundreds or thousands of single-molecule images.
- Precise localization of single molecules.
- Image reconstruction from localization data.
Main Results:
- Recent advancements in sCMOS camera sensors and localization algorithms reduce temporal requirements for SMLM.
- SMLM is being advanced towards high-throughput applications.
Conclusions:
- Researchers face hardware adaptation decisions for sCMOS sensors to achieve high-throughput SMLM.
- New system designs are crucial for pushing SMLM towards high-throughput workflows.
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