Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Commentary
  • Published:

Putting super-resolution fluorescence microscopy to work

Super-resolution microscopy is poised to revolutionize our understanding of the workings of the cell. But the technology still has some limitations, and these must be taken into consideration if widespread application is to yield biological insight.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Betzig, E., Trautman, J.K., Harris, T.D., Weiner, J.S. & Kostelak, R.L. Science 251, 1468–1470 (1991).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Hell, S.W. & Wichmann, J. Opt. Lett. 19, 780–782 (1994).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Gustafsson, M.G. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102, 13081–13086 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Betzig, E. et al. Science 313, 1642–1645 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Rust, M.J., Bates, J. & Zhuang, X. Nat. Methods 3, 793–796 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Hess, S.T., Girirajan, T.P.K. & Mason, M.D. Biophys. J. 91, 4258–4272 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Schermelleh, L. et al. Science 320, 1332–1336 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Willig, K.I., Rizzoli, S.O., Westphal, V., Jahn, R. & Hell, S.W. Nature 440, 935–939 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Kittel, R.J. et al. Science 312, 1051–1054 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Huang, B., Wang, W., Bates, M. & Zhuang, X. Science 319, 810–813 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Shroff, H., Galbraith, C.G., Galbraith, J.A. & Betzig, E. Nat. Methods 5, 417–423 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Biteen, J.S. et al. Nat. Methods (in the press).

  13. Manley, S. et al. Nat. Methods 5, 155–157 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Shannon, C.E. Proc. Inst. Radio Eng. 37, 10–21 (1949). Reprinted in Proc. IEEE 86, 447–457 (1998).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Shroff, H. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104, 20308–20313 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lippincott-Schwartz, J., Manley, S. Putting super-resolution fluorescence microscopy to work. Nat Methods 6, 21–23 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.f.233

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.f.233

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing