University of Tokyo researchers have created a powerful new microscope that captures both forward- and back-scattered light at once, letting scientists see everything from large cell structures to tiny nanoscale particles in a single shot.
Researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed a new type of microscope that can detect signals over an intensity range 14 times broader than that of standard microscopes. The technique works label-free, meaning it does not require extra fluorescent dyes or stains. Because of this, the method is gentle on living cells and suitable for long-term monitoring, making it attractive for testing and quality control in pharmaceutical and biotechnology settings.
Microscopes have been essential tools for scientific discovery since the 16th century, but each major advance has typically required instruments that are not only more precise, but also more specialized. As a result, today’s advanced imaging methods often involve difficult tradeoffs between what they can see and how they see it. Quantitative phase microscopy (QPM) uses forward-scattered light to detect structures at the microscale (in this study, over 100 nanometers), but it cannot access much smaller features.
In practice, QPM is often used to capture still images of complex cellular architecture. Interferometric scattering (iSCAT) microscopy takes a different approach by relying on back-scattered light and can pick up structures as tiny as single proteins. This makes it powerful for “tracking” individual particles and following rapid changes inside cells, but it does not offer the broad, whole-cell perspective that QPM provides.
