Nikon Unveils N-SIM Microscopes for Studying Nanoscopic Events in Living Cells

Nikon Instruments has unveiled a new super-resolution microscope for studying nanostructures and microstructures of living and fixed cells at a molecular-scale resolution. The N-SIM microscope is suitable for live-cell imaging and attains a 0.6 s/frame time resolution.

The SIM uses moire patterns and the sample under the microscopic lens is studied while a grid pattern of light illuminates the sample. A number of diverse light patterns are applied on the sample and then a digital camera is used to capture the resulting moire patterns. After the moire patterns are captured, computer software algorithms remove the high spatial frequency data in the moire images and then translate it into 3D and 2D high-resolution reconstructions.

The TIRF-SIM illumination method offers complete structural information close to the cell membrane and facilitates high-resolution internal reflection fluorescence observation. Furthermore, a new 3D-SIM illumination method augments the optical sectioning capability of specimens, thereby facilitating the visualization of comprehensive cell spatial structures.