MIT News has published an article covering the new expansion microscopy technique developed by Prof. Ed Boyden’s lab.

MIT team enlarges brain samples, making them easier to image
New technique enables nanoscale-resolution microscopy of large biological specimens.
Anne Trafton | MIT News Office
 

“Beginning with the invention of the first microscope in the late 1500s, scientists have been trying to peer into preserved cells and tissues with ever-greater magnification. The latest generation of so-called “super-resolution” microscopes can see inside cells with resolution better than 250 nanometers.

A team of researchers from MIT has now taken a novel approach to gaining such high-resolution images: Instead of making their microscopes more powerful, they have discovered a method that enlarges tissue samples by embedding them in a polymer that swells when water is added. This allows specimens to be physically magnified, and then imaged at a much higher resolution.”