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A picture is worth a thousand words
Visualizing nature at the cellular level
Science in Your Eyes is an online image gallery showcasing the capabilities of modern imaging techniques, including examples
from Confocal Fluorescence Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy, with emphasis on the aesthetic nature of cellular and subcellular structure.
The images are taken from the world of biophysics with a special focus on cell membranes, fats, proteins and liposomes.
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In the quest for understanding of the natural world, visualization of the objects under investigation has
always played a central role, particularly when the entities in question are invisible to the naked eye.Images have been instrumental
not only in the understanding of biological cellular systems, but also in the dissemination of information to both the scientist and the
layman alike. Drawings, photography, and later video and digital imaging have represented progressive improvements in the ability of scientists
to depict the natural world. The technical advances accompanying this progression have steadily allowed scientists to obtain detailed images at
smaller and smaller scales, spanning a range from what is visible with the naked eye (approx. 0,2 mm) all the way down to the
smallest constituents of matter - molecules and atoms (approx 0,1 nm) - the nanoscopic world.
1 nanometer (nm)
= one thousandth of 1 micrometer (µm)
= one millionth of 1 millimeter (mm)
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| An early model of a light microscope |
The term microscope can be used broadly to refer to any instrument that permits visualization of objects below optical limits, i.e.,
at microscopic (or even submicroscopic!) levels of resolution. Different types of microscopy have constituted a central tool for understanding
the structure, properties, and behavior of biological materials.
Furthermore, in clinical settings microscopes have played an important role in the study of the pathology of diseases.
The optical light microscope was devised in the late 16th century and by means of a simple magnifying lens was capable of achieving
magnifications of less than 10 times.
After centuries of refinements in objectives and microscope design, modern light microscopes can achieve not only far greater magnifications,
but by means of various contrast techniques, imaging of structures that are difficult to resolve in ordinary bright field microscopy.
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| A modern light microscope |
More modern innovations in microscopy have involved the use of lasers and advanced optical techniques to improve resolution, for example in
Confocal Microscopy and Laser scanning Microscopy.
Special dyes (fluorescent molecules) have been incorporated into living and synthetic cells to selectively label specific
components in the structure. The wavelength of light sets the size limit for the smallest object that can be seen with a
light microscope. Therefore, for conventional microscopy it is impossible to see anything that is smaller than half the wavelength
of violet light, approx. 200 nm.
However if electrons, which have an even smaller wavelength than light, are used instead to "illuminate" the object in an
electron microscope, it is possible to see
objects (for example, single atoms) with a resolution approaching 0,1 nm.
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| An Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) |
A major breakthrough in the field of imaging of very small objects came in the eighties with the development of
scanning probe techniques that allowed visualization of surfaces at the atomic level. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM),
developed in 1986, has proven to be of particular usefulness in visualizing soft, biological materials such as the lipid
bilayer membrane of cells in their natural
aqueous (water) environment. The resolution of the AFM allows images to be made of entities as small as a single protein or
DNA-molecule (a few nm) or as large as a living cell
(several thousands of nm)
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| Fluorescent Microscopy of proteins and fats from the lung |
Imaging the structure of a biological system on the microscopic scale provides insight into the function of the system, in turn leading
to a better understanding of
biological processes. The light microscope has therefore been a central tool in the field of biological
and medical research for centuries. Staining, fluorescence, and radiolabeling techniques have enhanced the
capabilities of microscopy to improve contrast and resolution and permitted selective visualizion of different
tissue types, sub-cellular structures and special groups of molecules. In particular, fluorescence microscopy is a
relatively straightforward and powerful technique, based on emission of light from fluorescent
markers when excited at certain wavelengths of light. is the markers themselves can be added to the system (e.g., a cell membrane)
in the lab, or in some cases are naturally present in the cell membrane.
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| Atomic Force Microscopy on a film of proteins and fats from the lung.
One single peak is equivalent to one protein molecule.
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The gallery Science in Your Eyes displays examples of biological or biologically-inspired synthetic systems that have been visualized
with fluorescent microscopy and
Atomic Force Microscopy, with a special emphasis on the aesthetic qualities of biologically structure.
The colors are artificial and are chosen so to emphasize
the contrasts and structures of the examined objects. The central theme is derived from the world of biophysics with a special focus on cell
membranes, fats, proteins and liposomes.
The images in the exhibition are made by researchers and students of The Danish National Research Foundation for Biomembrane Physics
(MEMPHYS) at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense.
The images with explanations are downloadable at ScienceInYourEyes.memphys.sdu.dk
Microscopy
Luis Bagatolli, Adam Cohen Simonsen, Danielle Keller, Thomas Kaasgaard, Jonas Henriksen,
Amy Rowat og Matthias Weiss (MEMPHYS), Horst-Günter Rubahn (Physics department, SDU)
Design and layout
Tove Nyberg (Physics department, SDU)
Idé
Ole G. Mouritsen (MEMPHYS) and Jonas Drotner Mouritsen (Kolding Designschool)
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