T10: Super-resolution Imaging Methods and Analysis in Biological Physics

Recent advances (recognized by the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2014) in optics and fluorophore technologies have broken the “diffraction limit,” enabling researchers to view protein distributions, interactions and dynamics at the single molecule level in living cells and organisms. This high-resolution view poses challenges for data analysis and interpretation that has benefited from insights from Physics. In this tutorial, we will go through the physics behind the developments in super-resolution microscopy, their applications in biological physics and the analysis of super-resolution imaging data. The tutorial will also feature a hands-on component, in which participants will analyze example datasets (localization microscopy, expansion microscopy, structured illumination, single particle tracking, smFRET). This tutorial will benefit graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and scientists who use or are considering the use of super-resolution imaging in cells, tissues and whole organisms in their research.

Topics covered:

• Experimental advances and considerations in super-resolution (structured illumination, localization, and expansion microscopies): Suliana Manley (EPFL)

• Advances in structured illumination microscopy for widefield super-resolution imaging: Bo-Jui Chang (UT Southwestern)

• Inferring biological and physical information from images: Steve Presse (Arizona State)

• Establishing and saturating parameter estimation bounds for single-molecule microscopy: Mikael Backlund (University of Illinois)