Revolutionizing high-resolution imaging, expansion microscopy has enabled researchers to visualize cellular components with unprecedented clarity. This innovative technique uses a water-absorbing hydrogel to physically expand biological tissues, allowing for super-resolution imaging that surpasses conventional light microscopy.
Expansion microscopy (ExM) has revolutionized the field of high-resolution imaging, enabling researchers to visualize cellular components with unprecedented clarity. The technique uses a water-absorbing hydrogel to physically expand biological tissues, allowing for super-resolution imaging that surpasses conventional light microscopy.
Expansion microscopy is a super-resolution imaging technique that allows for the visualization of cellular structures at unprecedented resolution.
Developed in 2014, this method involves the use of a polymer mesh to expand the sample, effectively increasing its size and allowing for higher magnification.
This technique has revolutionized the field of cell biology, enabling researchers to study the intricate details of cellular components with greater accuracy.
Expansion microscopy has been used to visualize structures such as 'synapses' , 'mitochondria' , and 'nuclear pores'.
Multiplexed expansion revealing is a cutting-edge technique used to image multiprotein nanostructures in the brain.
This method allows researchers to visualize and analyze complex protein interactions at the nanoscale, providing valuable insights into healthy and diseased brain function.
By combining advanced imaging techniques with sophisticated data analysis, scientists can identify specific protein patterns associated with neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease.
This knowledge can lead to the development of novel diagnostic tools and therapeutic strategies.
One of the latest advances in ExM is ultrastructural membrane expansion microscopy (umExM), which enables researchers to visualize lipid membranes with high resolution. This method has been a game-changer for biologists, as it allows them to study cellular ultrastructure and organization within tissues. The development of umExM was led by Tay Shin SM ’20, PhD ’23, a former graduate student in Professor Edward Boyden‘s lab.
Ultrastructural membrane expansion microscopy is a cutting-edge imaging technique that enables the visualization of cellular membranes at nanoscale resolution.
This method involves expanding and labeling the cell's plasma membrane, allowing researchers to study its ultrastructure in unprecedented detail.
By doing so, scientists can gain insights into various biological processes, such as cell signaling, transport mechanisms, and protein interactions.
The technique has shown great promise in understanding complex cellular behaviors and may lead to breakthroughs in fields like cancer research and neurology.
In addition to visualizing cell membranes, researchers can now use ExM to label and visualize multiple proteins in a single sample using multiplexed expansion revealing (multiExR). This method allows biologists to see how different proteins are organized with respect to one another and generate new hypotheses about their interactions. The ability to repeatedly link fluorescently labeled antibodies to specific proteins in an expanded tissue sample has been key to this advance.
The capabilities of ExM have far-reaching implications for the field of neuroscience, particularly in understanding Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers can use multiExR to visualize amyloid plaques and identify specific proteins within them. This approach has revealed unexpected aspects of biology and raised new questions for research.
This work was supported by a diverse range of funding agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, the ‘Open Philanthropy Project’ , and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program. As ExM continues to evolve, researchers are poised to uncover even more secrets of cellular biology, shedding light on complex biological processes and opening new avenues for research.
*‘Dense, continuous membrane labeling and expansion microscopy visualization of ultrastructure in tissues’
*‘Multiplexed expansion revealing for imaging multiprotein nanostructures in healthy and diseased brain’
- mit.edu | Seeing more in expansion microscopy
