Physicist optimizes DNA microscopy technique to improve imaging speed, add color

Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy can be used to visualize structures smaller than 200 nanometers, i.e., below the diffraction limit of light. One of the microscopy techniques, called DNA-PAINT, was developed by Ralf Jungmann, research group leader at the MPI of Biochemistry and Professor for Experimental Physics at LMU, together with colleagues. The technique uses short 'imagers', dye-labeled DNA strands that temporarily bind to their target molecules in a complementary manner to produce the necessary "blinking" for super-resolution reconstruction of the images.