Photoactivated localization microscopy
Photoactivated localization microscopy (PALM) is a fancy way of taking pictures of really tiny things like cells and their structures. It's like having a super powerful magnifying glass that can see things that are too small to be seen with regular microscopes.
Let's imagine you are looking at a picture of a house. With a regular microscope, you can see the house, but you can't see the details like the individual bricks that it's made of. That's where PALM comes in.
PALM starts by labeling specific parts of a cell with a special molecule called a fluorescent protein. When this molecule is activated by light, it becomes bright and emits light that can be detected by a camera. This process is called photoactivation.
The PALM microscope only activates a very small number of these fluorescent molecules at a time, allowing the camera to capture each individual molecule and its exact location. By doing this many times over, scientists can build a highly detailed picture of the cell's structures with incredibly high resolution.
PALM isn't just for looking at cells in a dish, either. Scientists have used PALM to give unprecedented views of neurons and synapses in the brain, which helps them understand how the brain works and how diseases affect it.
Let's imagine you are looking at a picture of a house. With a regular microscope, you can see the house, but you can't see the details like the individual bricks that it's made of. That's where PALM comes in.
PALM starts by labeling specific parts of a cell with a special molecule called a fluorescent protein. When this molecule is activated by light, it becomes bright and emits light that can be detected by a camera. This process is called photoactivation.
The PALM microscope only activates a very small number of these fluorescent molecules at a time, allowing the camera to capture each individual molecule and its exact location. By doing this many times over, scientists can build a highly detailed picture of the cell's structures with incredibly high resolution.
PALM isn't just for looking at cells in a dish, either. Scientists have used PALM to give unprecedented views of neurons and synapses in the brain, which helps them understand how the brain works and how diseases affect it.