New microscope created in Glasgow could speed up developments of vital medicines

Feb 15 2012 By Tristan Stewart Robertson

Strathclyde University

A THREE-dimensional microscope developed in Glasgow is revolutionary, researchers have claimed.

Its images can be produced within seconds instead of hours.

And scientists at Strathclyde University say that could speed up development of new medicines.

A Mesolens – the only one in the world – can offer a detailed glimpse of organisms too big for traditional microscopes, as well as allowing imaging of cancerous tissues and the cortex of the brain.

The lens can produce resolution of more than 150 megapixels –10-times more powerful than consumer digital cameras.

Dr Gail McConnell, a Reader at the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical
Sciences, is a partner in the research and brought an optical physics background to the project.

She is working with Dr Brad Amos, a visiting scientist who first conceived the Mesolens project, and Dr John Dempster, who has contributed the software and electronics expertise.

The lens is much larger than a normal microscope lens: about 70cm long and 8cm in diameter.

It uses a laser to get images from different levels of focus, which are then reconstructed into a 3D
picture showing a complete object and its interior.

The new picture contains both the macro information and microscopic detail of the interior.

Dr McConnell said it was this combination of macro and micro that is “a world first”.

She said: “The project is expected to change the practice of microscopy worldwide, because it closes a serious gap between low and high magnification recording.

“We’re using light to look at biological tissue and understand how it functions. That will assist greatly in helping develop new drugs for an unfortunately infinite number of diseases.

“Currently, scientists struggle to piece together the big picture by laborious stitching of hundreds of images of the tiny fields of view in a high-power microscope.

“With the Mesolens, they can obtain all the information in a single image. As well as being faster, the new type of imaging can reach deeper into solid tissues, such as embryos or tumours.”