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rapidSTORM: accurate, fast open-source software for localization microscopy

Nature Methods volume 9, pages 1040–1041 (2012)Cite this article

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In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of localization microscopy: that is, super-resolution fluorescence imaging by stochastic photoswitching, photoactivation or other fluorescence-generating processes. The evaluation of localization microscopy data with a Gaussian model of the point-spread function (PSF) is a common and cogent technique1, and Poissonian maximum-likelihood estimator (MLE) fitting of the Gaussian model has been shown to yield optimal precision2. However, current software support is based on less precise approximations of MLE fitting or is slow, hardware dependent, closed source or unmaintained. Many advances have been made with unpublished or prototypical software packages, leaving established labs with homemade software and new labs with immense technology entry costs. This state has weakened the core strengths of localization microscopy: cost-efficiency and experimental simplicity.

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Figure 1: Multicolor dSTORM with rapidSTORM.

Change history

  • 04 December 2012

    In the version of this article initially published, a column in Figure 1b was mislabeled, and the origin of the color scale bar for panels 1d–f was unlabeled. The errors have been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

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Acknowledgements

We thank G. Krohne (Julius-Maximilians University Würzburg) for providing us with the Asc222 antibody, H. Neuweiler for help with sample preparation, A. Lampe (Free University of Berlin) for providing initial data and discussion for two-color imaging and K. Lidke (University of New Mexico) for providing the Smith-Joseph-Rieger-Lidke GPU data. This work was supported by the Biophotonics Initiative of the German Ministry of Research and Education (BMBF) (grant no. 13N11019).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology and Biophysics, Biocenter, Julius-Maximilians University Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Steve Wolter, Anna Löschberger, Thorge Holm, Sarah Aufmkolk, Sebastian van de Linde & Markus Sauer

  2. Department of Electron Microscopy, Biocenter, Julius-Maximilians University Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Marie-Christine Dabauvalle

Authors
  1. Steve Wolter
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Correspondence to Markus Sauer.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Text and Figures

Supplementary Figures 1–3, Supplementary Table 1 and Supplementary Notes 1 and 2 (PDF 2604 kb)

Supplementary Software

Source code of rapidSTORM software (ZIP 1688 kb)

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Wolter, S., Löschberger, A., Holm, T. et al. rapidSTORM: accurate, fast open-source software for localization microscopy. Nat Methods 9, 1040–1041 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.2224

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