Applied Precision (Issaquah, WA) has licensed exclusive patents from Yale University (New Haven, CT), allowing the company to integrate enhanced total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy into its existing product suite. Known as Ring-TIRF microscopy, the technology illuminates samples with TIRF as an adjustable ring of light, removing interference fringes and allowing fast multi-angle illumination to correct for chromatic differences and 3-D illumination of the cell cortex. The technology also provides modality for fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) and photoactivation.
Ready for commercialization by Applied Precision, the prototype instrument was developed at Yale by Dr. Derek Toomre (associate professor, Department of Cell Biology, Yale University School of Medicine) and co-inventors Dr. Vladimir Polejaev and Mr. Robert Roorda. Toomre says that RING-TIRF microscopy overcomes the limitations and problems of conventional TIRF microscopy, enabling quantitative and 3-D TIRF imaging.
Paul Goodwin, director of advanced applications at Applied Precision, notes that Ring-TIRF allows people to pair TIRF and photo-kinetic experiments such as FRAP and photoactivation, enabling enhanced experiments and more quantitative results.
A NIH New Innovator award supported the work done at Yale. Applied Precision is currently integrating the Ring-TIRF technology into the DeltaVision OMX V4 super-resolution microscope systems, which is slated for launch in early 2012.
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