KANCHANAWONG Laboratory
Mechanobiology Institute & Department of Biomedical Engineering
National University of Singapore
Superresolution Microscopy
Fluorescence microscopy provides exquisite sensitivity and superb specificity for detecting and visualizing molecules in cells. However, the resolution of light microscope is conventionally limited by diffraction to, at best, ~250 nm. With superresolution microscopy, it is now possible to combine the molecular specificity and sensitivity afforded by fluorescence with nanometer-scale spatial resolution to achieve light-based imaging with a resolving power comparable to EM.
Our lab has a long-standing interest in the development and application of superresolution microscopy. We continue to explore new techniques as well as apply these to solve a wide-range of biological questions.
Diffraction-Limited
Superresolution (PALM)
3D Superresolution microscopy by iPALM
Our group operates an iPALM (interferometric PhotoActivated Localization Microscopy) 3-D single-molecule superresolution microscopes.
Tony has been involved in the original development of the iPALM (Shtengel et al., PNAS 2009), and our iPALM system has been set up with generous sharing of designs and software by Harald Hess and Gleb Shtengel at Janelia Research Campus HHMI.
iPALM permits ultra-high sub-20 nm resolving power. We continue to develop this technique, applying them to address pressing questions in cell biology and mechanobiology.
Check out our video on iPALM imaging on Journal of Visualized Experiments
Wang, Y., Kanchanawong, P. Three-dimensional Super Resolution Microscopy of F-actin Filaments by Interferometric PhotoActivated Localization Microscopy (iPALM). J. Vis. Exp. (118), e54774, doi:10.3791/54774 (2016).
Recent studies made possible by iPALM
Correlative Electron and Superresolution Microscopy
One of the ongoing work in our lab, in collaboration with Dr. Shi Jian at CBIS, is to combine Superresolution microscopy with Electron microscopy. Read more on Correlative Superresolution and Electron Microscopy here.
