Abstract

In 1873, Ernst Abbe discovered that features closer than 200 nm cannot be resolved by lens-based light microscopy. In recent years, however, several new far-field super-resolution imaging techniques have broken this diffraction limit, producing, for example, video-rate movies of synaptic vesicles in living neurons with 62 nm spatial resolution. Current research is focused on further improving spatial resolution in an effort to reach the goal of video-rate imaging of live cells with molecular (1–5 nm) resolution. Here, we describe the contributions of fluorescent probes to far-field super-resolution imaging, focusing on fluorescent proteins and organic small-molecule fluorophores. We describe the features of existing super-resolution fluorophores and highlight areas of importance for future research and development.

Author affiliations

1. Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
   Email: martafs@alum.mit.edu
2. Center for Engineering in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, 114 16th Street, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, USA.
   Email: ating@mit.edu

Published online 12 November 2008

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