Striving towards Excellence

-Karthik Gurumurthy

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry  for this year was actually awarded to three scientists, all of whom made significant contributions to the field of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy:

• Eric Betzig: American, received his Ph.D. in Biophysics from Cornell University in 1988. He currently serves as HHMI Investigator and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Research Campus.
• Stefan W. Hell: German, earned his Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of Heidelberg in 1991. He is presently the Director of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry and Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Göttingen.
• William E. Moerner: American, obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1982. He continues to work as the Harry Gray Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University.

These three laureates were jointly recognized for their groundbreaking advancements in super-resolved fluorescence microscopy, a technique that allows scientists to visualize biological structures with much greater resolution than conventional optical microscopes. This technology allows for unprecedented insights into cellular processes and has revolutionized our understanding of biology at the nanoscale.

Betzig developed a method called Photoactivated Localization Microscopy (PALM) that involves repeatedly activating and localizing single fluorescent molecules to build up a high-resolution image.

Hell invented Stimulated Emission Depletion (STED) microscopy, which utilizes a doughnut-shaped laser beam to confine fluorescence to a tiny area, enabling super-resolution imaging.

Moerner played a crucial role in single-molecule spectroscopy, allowing for the individual tracking and localization of fluorescent molecules, which proved fundamental for super-resolution microscopy techniques like PALM.