J. R. Lacadena, F. J. Rubia, J. Pintor
752
ABSTRAC
With what is known as "nanoscopy", scientists can display individual molecules
within living cells. It seemed impossible that scientists could see, via optical
methods, details in certain preparations, especially to observe details of molecules
inside cells. In 1873, the microscopist Ernst Abbe stipulated a physical limit to the
maximum resolution of traditional light microscopy: resolution could never be
better than 0.2 micrometers. Eric Betzig, Stefan W. Hell and William E. Moerner
have been awarded with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2014 for having surpass
this limit. Because of their achievements light microscopy can now look into the
nanoworld. There are basically two principles that have been discovered by the
awarded scientists. First the STED technique (stimulated emission depletion)
developed by Stefan Hell in 2000. In this strategy two laser beams are used, one
stimulates fluorescent molecules, the second limits the fluorescent area to a nano-
sized volume. This combination produces an image with better resolution than
any image taken before. Eric Betzig and William Moerner, working separately, laid
the groundwork for the second method, the single-molecule microscopy, with the
acronym PALM (photoactivated localization microscopy). The method is based on
the possibility of turning on and off the fluorescence of individual molecules.
Scientists can illuminate the same area several times, leaving only a few molecules
interspersed increasingly shine. The superposition of these images produces a
super dense image with a resolution in the nanometer level. Today, nanoscopy is
used worldwide and has improved the knowledge of how molecules are involved
in the synapses between nerve cells in the brain, and how proteins involved in
Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's and Huntington disease can interact during the
pathology. Moreover, it has been possible to investigate how individual proteins
in fertilized embryos participate in the animal development. Certainly the
nanoscopy helps the scientific knowledge in ways that will result in improved
quality of life of human beings.
INTRODUCCIÓN
Como cada año, la Real Academia de las Ciencias de Suecia es la encargada
de nombrar al ganador del Premio Nobel de Física, del Premio Nobel de Química y
del Premio en Ciencias Económicas en memoria de Alfred Nobel. Este año en el
apartado de química, han sido galardonados los científicos Eric Betzig, Stefan W.
Hell y William E. Moerner “
por el desarrollo de la microscopía de fluorescencia de
alta resolución
” (Figura 1). La institución del Premio Nobel ha referido los
siguientes párrafos como justificación de la concesión:
