Virtual Nanoscopy is the New Google Earth for Cell Biologists

By Will SoutterAug 8 2012

A new technique labeled as ‘Virtual Nanoscopy’ has been developed by a team of scientists from Netherland’s Leiden University Medical Center, using which a single image of biological tissue at high resolution can be obtained by piecing or stitching together thousands of electron microscopy images.

This new method will facilitate the navigation from view of a whole embryo down to images of cell structures much like the navigation to view of one’s own backyard from a view from space using Google Earth.

Electron microscopy has been used to study cell structure down to minute details. However, a serious limitation of electron microscopy is its ability to image only a small portion of the cell in a single instance which makes it difficult for researchers to visualize the cell as a whole or relate to the organ or tissue in which the cell resides. The other option of viewing the complete image of a cell at low resolution is ruled out as it does not offer a view of the finer details. The virtual Nanoscopy method facilitated the stitching of 26,000 individual images of a zebrafish embryo into a composite electron micrograph consisting of a total of 281 gigapixels at an image resolution of 16 million pixels per inch. One can navigate the image of the zebrafish embryo from the complete view of the 1.5 mm long embryo to view of sub-cellular structure.