Expansion Microscopy(ExM) Imaging Method

Abstract

How small scale do you want to image? There are many super-resolution imaging techniques like STORM, STED, PALM… However, those techniques require expert skills and equipment to get one high-resolution image.
Expansion microscopy(ExM), a nanoscale imaging technique with a conventional fluorescent microscope makes it easier to get super-resolution images. It uses water-swellable polymer expanding samples(as 4x - 20x in each dimension) with deionized water.
Today, Kitae Kim and I will show you how to immunostain β-tubulin on Cos-7 cells, transfer protein signals to polymer gels, expand polymer gels, and image ExM. We also analyze samples verifying expansion ratio with many proven methods.