Stanford’s new iISM microscope images living cells at 120-nanometer resolution

Stanford researchers built an iISM microscope that combines interferometric scattering microscopy with structured laser illumination.

The system images nanoscale structures in living cells in real time, around 120-nanometer resolution, without fluorescent labels.

It can better distinguish vesicles, protein complexes, and filaments than either method alone while avoiding dye-related cell changes and photobleaching.

The approach could help scientists study fast cellular dynamics, though it still has limits for very small molecules and works best in adherent cells.