The resolution difference between standard microscopy and SIM technology can be clearly seen.

A lamp is used to illuminate the sample from above. Transmitted light is collected via the objective, passed through the Tube lens and Scan lens 2, and directed through Scan lens 4 via removable mirrors before imaging onto the camera.

The top four images were acquired with a line-scanning confocal microscope (left), a spinning disk confocal microscope (right), and the bottom image with instant SIM. Unlike instant SIM, sub-mitochondrial features are not able to be clearly seen in either line-scanning or spinning disk microscopes.

Instant SIM imaging of the endoplasmic reticulum at 100 Hz over 200 time points. The instant SIM is able to take images at 100 frames per second. While there are conventional microscopes that are able to take images at this rate, they lack the resolution to show the fine features of the cell organelles.

Using a new type of microscopy developed in the High Resolution Optical Imaging lab at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, researchers in Hari Shroff’s lab are able to view individual blood cells moving through a live zebrafish embryo at the highest resolution yet.

Read: New Microscopes Reveal Live, Developing Cells in Unprecedented 3D Clarity