Better Imaging through Chemistry

Biological specimens offer very little in the way of intrinsic contrast that reveals their inner workings in a microscope. Therefore, for hundreds of years chemists have come to the rescue by developing contrast agents that highlight specific features of interest, even down to the molecular level. This is no truer than in the last thirty years, with the rise of fluorescence microscopy as the “go to” imaging modality in cell and developmental biology. I will describe how chemistry has led the way in advancing modern optical microscopy, including super-resolution microscopy, and provide examples showing why further innovations in chemistry are needed now more than ever.

Speaker: Eric Betzig, Nobel Laureate