Thanks to advancements in expansion microscopy, unprecedented views of the interiors of cells and other nanoscale structures are now possible. The advances could aid future research in neuroscience, pathology, and other biological and medical fields. Magnify is a universal molecular anchoring strategy for expansion microscopy, according to the paper, which describes new Magnify protocols. Magnify has the potential to be a powerful and user-friendly tool for the biotechnology community.
Magnify is a type of expansion microscopy that allows them to use a new hydrogel formula developed by the team that retains a spectrum of biomolecules, allows for a broader application to a variety of tissues, and increases the expansion rate up to 11 times linearly, or approximately 1,300 folds of the original volume. They overcame some long-standing expansion microscopy challenges. Magnify’s a universal strategy for keeping the tissue’s biomolecules, such as proteins, nucleic acids, and carbohydrates, within the expanded sample is one of its main selling points.
Keeping various biological components intact is important because previous protocols required the removal of many different biomolecules that held tissues together. However, these molecules may contain useful information for researchers. Previously, to make cells truly expandable, you had to use enzymes to digest proteins, resulting in an empty gel with labels indicating the location of the protein of interest. The new method keeps the molecules intact, and multiple biomolecules can be labeled in a single sample.
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