A new microscope that reveals cellular life in stunning detail has been developed after 10 years by physicist Eric Betzig at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Farm Research Campus.

Betzig was one of the winners of the 2014 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Betzig's microscope can collect high-res images quickly with minimal damage to cells.

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It can capture the 3D activity of molecules, cells, and embryos in exquisite detail over longer periods than was previously possible.

To develop the new lattice light-sheet microscope, Betzig and his colleagues teamed up with cell and molecular biologists to produce remarkable videos of biological processes like the movements of individual proteins and the development of entire animal embryos.

The imaging process is called lattice light sheet microscopy and it uses a novel approach to envision cells. It diffuses a strip of light from the side and illuminates a sliver of the specimen along one plane, snaps a photo and move quickly to another plane.

The microscope creates images at a resolution of up to 230 nanometers and can capture 1,000 frames per second.

The lattice light-sheet microscope offers a number potential uses like ability to see how a cancer spreads in 3D.

"It takes a huge amount of effort to move from a successful high-tech prototype to broader adoption of an imaging technology," said Betzig.

Betzig and his colleagues want to commercialize the microscope for use by the research community.

TagsMicroscope, Eric Betzig , lattice light-sheet microscope, molecules images in 3D, microscopy