“We threw the conventional microscope out the window and began again,” says John Sedat, a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco.

Instead of focusing a small spot of light onto cells, the new microscope, which has a resolution of about 100 nanometers, illuminates cells with stripes of light called an interference pattern. When a fine cellular structure, such as a single cluster of proteins embedded in a cell nucleus, reflects this light, it changes the pattern slightly. The microscope collects this light; software is used to interpret changes in its pattern and create an image.”

Check out some of the amazing images:

Two adjoining cells prepare for division by condensing their DNA into chromosomes (red). The membranes around the cell nuclei are stained blue. The green filaments are protein structures called microtubules, which divide the cell’s genome into two equal parts and pull each part into the resulting daughter cells.

Shown here is another mouse nucleus, with the cell’s DNA stained red. The DNA is condensing into chromosomes. The envelope surrounding the nucleus, stained green, is beginning to puncture and distort in preparation for cell division.

Read the entire article over at Tech Review.

Read my whole review of the field and the store complete with more images at the WISE student blog where we’re helping schools learn how to set up these incredible balanced micro-ecosystems.