Microscope Could “Solve the Cause of Viral Diseases”

[TECH NEWS]

University of Manchester scientists have produced the world’s most powerful optical microscope, something which could help understand the causes of many viruses and diseases. Writing in the journal Nature Communications, the team have created a microscope which shatters the record for the smallest object the eye can see, breaking the theoretical limit of optical microscopes. Previously, the standard optical microscope could only see items around one micrometer – 0.001 millimeters – clearly. But now, by combining an optical microscope with a transparent microsphere, dubbed the “microsphere nanoscope,” the Manchester researchers can see 20 times smaller – 50 nanometers (5 x 10^-8m) – under normal lights. This is beyond the theoretical limit of optical microscopy. This hugely-increased capacity means the scientists, led by Professor Lin Li and Dr Zengbo Wang, could potentially examine the inside of human cells, and look at live viruses for the first time to see what causes them to invade. The existing microscopes which have the capacity to examine tiny items – electron microscopes – can only see the surface of a cell rather than its interior structure and there is no tool to see a live virus visually.

3/1/11, University of Manchester