HWNI member Eric Betzig, professor of molecular & cell biology and physics, and colleagues have developed a new high-resolution microscope that can image the intricate dynamics of living systems at the level of molecules, cells, and even whole embryos and mouse brains, for up to days at a time. The microscope, called Multimodal Optical Scope with Adaptive Imaging Correction (MOSAIC), is described in a new paper published in Nature Methods.
MOSAIC incorporates a dozen different types of high-powered microscopes into one machine, including a super-resolution microscope — the development of which won Betzig the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2014. MOSAIC produces 5D images: three dimensions of space, one of time, and one of color. The colors are fluorescent molecules used to label different subcellular structures. Because MOSAIC generates massive amounts (petabytes) of data, the team is now building an AI model to help process and interpret it, which could lead to significant new discoveries.