Celestial Connections

Adopting techniques from astronomers and ophthalmologists [eye experts], biologists have found a novel way to produce sharper microscope images. Like the atmosphere and an eye’s lens, biological samples bend light in peculiar ways, producing information that’s difficult for microscopes to interpret. Astronomers have learnt to overcome such light-bending by shining a laser – known as a guide star – into the atmosphere and measuring the distortion of the returning light. They then use this measurement to tweak the telescope’s mirror to correct the aberrations. Biologists have mimicked this technique by using a fluorescent object, such as a cell body, as a ‘guide star’. And thanks to this novel method, here we can see with remarkable clarity a network of nerve cells deep in the brain of a living zebrafish.

Written by Nick Kennedy

Nick Kennedy

Writer

A Biology and Science Communication graduate, Nick is now working behind the scenes on the BPoD project. He also works as a freelance science journalist.

• Image courtesy of Eric Betzig and colleagues
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Farm Research Campus, USA
• Copyright held by original authors
• Research published in Nature Methods, April 2014