Researchers at EPFL's Laboratory of Nanoscale Biology, headed by Aleksandra Radenovic in the School of Engineering, has created an algorithm that estimates a microscope's resolution in seconds based on a single image. The algorithm’s result can help determine the microscopes operating efficiency, which would be quite valuable for automated microscopes that rely on a computer to adjust their settings. Calculation time is only a matter of seconds and generates a single number.
Super-resolution microscopes operate by measuring the fluorescent light that is emitted by various compounds and exploiting quantum properties of the fluorophore. These advanced microscopy systems can deliver smaller resolutions that those imposed by the diffraction limit. A common issue that arises is image quality will vary based on the instrument being used and its settings (along with the properties of the sample of interest). Using this algorithm, researchers can determine if the microscope is being used to its full potential by analyzing the single number it generates.
"Researchers can compare this number with the microscope's maximum possible resolution to see whether the instrument can work even better or modify the experimental conditions and observe how the resolution evolves" says Adrien Descloux, the research study's lead author. Radenovic, and her team, have just been published in Nature Methods.