Filed to: This is awesome

Back in 2011, GE unveiled DeltaVision OMX Blaze, a state-of-the art microscope that uses a combination of optics and powerful computer algorithms. Using a technique called 3D structured illumination microscopy (SIM), OMX can see objects as small as 100 nanometers across and more than doubles the resolution in all three dimensions. Here are some of the most mind blowing super-resolution images taken by the microscope to date.


All images courtesy GE Reports and reproduced with permission. Above: Cancer: Metaphase epithelial cell in metaphase stained for microtubules (red), kinetochores (green) and DNA (blue). Credit: Jane Stout.


Cancer: Interphase human cervical cancer cell stained for microtubules (green), pericentrin centrosome protein (red) and DNA (blue). Credit: Steffen Lawo



Immunology and infection: CACO-2 intestinal epithelial cells stained to label the apical actin cytoskeleton. Credit: Matthew Tyska




Cancer: Mitotic spindle in a PTK1 cell stained for tubulin (green) and Ncd80 (red). Credit: Keith DeLuca


Developmental biology: Human keratinocyte cells expressin GFP labeled keratin-14 (green) stained for DNA (blue). Credit: Graham Wright


Deafness: Sound detecting sensory cells of the inner ear. Credit: Nicolas Grillet


Cancer, neurological disorders: Drosophila Melanogaster ovary labeled for microtubules (green), actin (purple) and DNA (blue). Credit: Timothy Weil


Cancer: Prometaphase human cervical carcinoma (HeLa) cell with GFP-histone labeled chromosomes (blue) stained for tubulin (yellow). Credit: Markus Posch


Cancer: Mitotic human cervical cancer cell stained for microtubules (green) and DNA (blue). Credit: Steffen Lawo


Deafness: Motion detecting sensory cells of the inner ear. Credit: Nicolas Grillet


HIV: Tissue section stained for CD4+ cells (red), stroma (green) and nuclei (blue). Credit: Ann Carias


Developmental biology: Spermatocyte in meiosis with chromosomes stained for synaptonemal complex-3. Credit: Graham Wright


Cancer, neurological disorders: Drosophila Melanogaster ovary labeled for microtubules (green), actin (purple) and DNA (blue). Credit: Timothy Weil


Cancer: Yeast expressing fluorescent fusion proteins marking nucleoli (red), centromeres (yellow) and the nuclear envelope and plasma membrane (cyan). Credit: Marc Green


Deafness: Toe section stained for tubulin and merkel cell cytokeratin (green also), S-100 (red) and DNA (blue). Credit: Nicolas Grillet.

Malaria is just one disease in the sights of scientists using the new technology, which GE calls DeltaVision OMX Blaze. They are using it to study bacterial cell division to develop a new generation of antibiotics, observe the response of cancer cells to chemotherapy, and the cell to cell transmission of HIV and other viruses. Scientists can even watch mitosis in living cells, the process of chromosome separation into two identical sets. The tool’s results have been so extraordinary that Jane Stout, a research associate at Indiana University recently, dubbed the OMX the “OMG.” Stout said that the microscope allowed her to “see details inside the cells at previously unprecedented resolution.”


Read more about this remarkable super-resolution microscope at GE Reports.