PicoQuant GmbH, specialist in single photon counting applications and fluorescence instrumentation has signed an agreement with the Max Planck Society and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) to use the gated STED technology (gSTED) in the new time-resolved confocal microscope MicroTime 200 STED.
MicroTime 200 STED. Gated STED now increases the resolution of PicoQuant's time-resolved confocal microscopy platform MicroTime 200 even more.
The group of Professor Stefan Hell, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, has introduced the idea of gSTED in order to improve resolution and contrast of a STED microscope even more, while distinctly reducing laser intensity. This increases photostability as well as live cell capability, substantially extending the range of possible applications. gSTED relies on a photon gating technique that can be directly applied on the data acquired with the MicroTime 200 STED leading to an improved resolution in images. gSTED also enhances the capabilities and possible applications for STED Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (STED-FCS) as it leads to an effectively reduced observation volume. This is of special importance for, e.g., the observation of molecule movements in the membrane of living cells.
“We are very pleased to work together with the Max Planck Society, its technology transfer organization Max Planck Innovation, and the DKFZ that allows us to put a new STED microscope on the market,” says Rainer Erdmann, Managing Director of PicoQuant. “The gSTED technology is surely one of the key capabilities of the MicroTime 200 STED that users will appreciate in their research.”
“PicoQuant has a longstanding experience in the development of fluorescence instrumentation and their products are used all over the world. With the new MicroTime 200 STED, using our gSTED technology, PicoQuant now offers an easy to handle, high-quality fluorescence microscope, which will help scientists worldwide to conduct their research in the fields of material and life sciences”, says Bernd Ctortecka, Patent and Licensing Manager at Max Planck Innovation.
The image shows tubulin labeled with Abberior STAR 635P (green) and giantin labeled with Atto647N (red) using excitation at 640 nm and 660 nm combined with a STED laser at 765 nm.
“I am very happy that PicoQuant helps to make the STED and gSTED technology accessible to more laboratories around the world. The user friendly design of the MicroTime 200 STED allows scientists without a background in physics to perform STED routinely in their research,” adds Professor Hell.
The MicroTime 200 STED was presented to the public for the first time during the 20th Single Molecule Workshop, which was held September 2-5, 2014 in Berlin-Adlershof. Professor Hell participated in the workshop and presented his work about far-field optical nanoscopy. Only a few weeks later he has been awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of “super-resolved fluorescence microscopy”.
About PicoQuant
PicoQuant GmbH is a research and development company in the field of optoelectronics. The company was founded in 1996 and is based in the science and technology park Berlin-Adlershof, Germany. The company is a worldwide leader in the field of single photon counting applications. The product line includes pulsed diode lasers and LEDs, photon counting instrumentation, fluorescence lifetime spectrometers and time-resolved confocal microscopes. PicoQuant employs currently around 50 people. Since April 2008 Sales and Support in North America is handled by PicoQuant Photonics North America Inc.