Consortium unveils Scotland’s highest-resolution microscope

A new £1.2 million microscope capable of viewing structures just a few billionths of a metre in size has been unveiled by scientists in Scotland.

The nanoscope, which can see objects 10 times smaller than those visible to the most advanced light microscopes, is said to be the only instrument of its kind north of the border.

Capable of creating 3D visualisations with a sharper, more informative image than other microscopes can provide, it will be used to investigate cancer cell biology, human genetic problems and autoimmune diseases.

It was unveiled by the Edinburgh Super-resolution Imaging Consortium (ESRIC), a joint initiative between Heriot-watt and Edinburgh universities.

Co-director of ESRIC Professor Wendy Bickmore said: “The ability to visualise molecules in cells at such high spatial resolution, and the new capability to look at the relationship between different molecules simultaneously using different colours, provides an unprecedented opportunity to investigate underlying molecular causes of human disease.”

Heriot-watt University said the new stimulated emission depletion (STED) nanoscope – so-called because it “sees” things on the nano, rather than the micro scale – creates images at resolutions below the diffraction limit. In traditional microscopy, resolution is limited by the diffraction of light. The new system can produce an image in up to four colours simultaneously, allowing scientists to look at more than one gene, cell or structure at the same time.