Super resolution microscopy breaks the diffraction limit. Professor Dr Stefan Hell is credited for the development of STED or stimulated emission depletion microscopy. In this paper arising from the Faraday Discussion on Lipids & Membrane Biophysics STED is used in combination with FCS or fluorescence correlation spectroscopy to follow the diffusion of dye labeled lipids in membrane model systems on glass and mica.
Super resolution microscopy is used to study the diffusion of labelled lipids, two labels are employed, one that localises in the liquid ordered and one that localises in the liquid disordered phase of the lipid membrane model. Through STED, and with the two new probes introduced, the rate of 2D diffusion in the membrane can be measured. As the localisation of the two probes is different, a map of the disordered and ordered domains can be generated.
by Dr Thomas Just Sørensen
Read this fascinating article which was presented as part of the Faraday Discussion on Lipids & Membrane Biophysics:
STED microscopy detects and quantifies liquid phase separation in lipid membranes using a new far-red emitting fluorescent phosphoglycerolipid analogue
Alf Honigmann, Veronika Mueller, Stefan W. Hell and Christian Eggeling
DOI: 10.1039/C2FD20107K
Read all the results and Discussion in the Lipids & Membrane Biophysics Discussion volume.
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