Dr. Ralf Jungmann, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Molecular Imaging and Bionanotechnology, Germany

Super-Resolution Microscopy with DNA Molecules

Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy is a powerful tool for biological research, but obtaining multiplexed images for a large number of distinct target species in whole cells and beyond remains challenging. Here we use the transient binding of short fluorescently labelled oligonucleotides (DNA-PAINT, a variation of point accumulation for imaging in nanoscale topography) for simple and easy-to-implement multiplexed super-resolution imaging that achieves sub-10-nm spatial resolution in vitro on synthetic DNA structures. 

We report a multiplexing approach (Exchange-PAINT) that allows sequential imaging of multiple targets using only a single dye and a single laser source. We experimentally demonstrate ten-color super-resolution imaging in vitro on synthetic DNA structures as well as four-color two-dimensional imaging and three-color 3D imaging of proteins in fixed cells.

Finally, we demonstrate whole cell imaging using DNA- and Exchange-PAINT and optical sectioning, now allowing DNA-based super-resolution imaging deep inside cells, away from the glass coverslip.

Host: Professor Kurt V. Gothelf, iNANO & Dept. of Chemistry, Aarhus University