Easy Ways to High- and Super-Resolution Fluorescence Microscopy: Image Scanning Microscopy (ISM), and Stochastic Optical Fluctuation Imaging (SOFI), and Metal-Induced Energy Transfer (MIET)

Classical fluorescence microscopy is limited in resolution by the wavelength of light (diffraction limit) restricting lateral resolution to ca. 200 nm, and axial resolution to ca. 500 nm (at typical excitation and emission wavelengths around 500 nm). However, recent years have seen a tremendous development in highand super-resolution techniques of fluorescence microscopy, pushing spatial resolution to its diffraction-dictated limits and much beyond, and culminating in the Nobel prize for Chemistry in 2014. In my tutorial, I will present a thorough introduction into the subject and will give an overview over the different existing methods and approaches. Then, I will focus on three new methods which have been developed or co-developed by our lab, and which are characterized by their exceptional technical simplicity and broad applicability. In particular, I will discuss three techniques: Image Scanning Microscopy or ISM, Stochastic Optical Fluctuation Imaging or SOFI microscopy, and Metal-Induced Energy Transfer or MIET imaging.