超分辨显微,至极至美:2014年诺贝尔化学奖述评

Beyond the limit:super-resolution microscopy earned the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2014

三个物理学家,因为对生命科学的贡献,赢得2014年的诺贝尔化学奖。他们做了什么重大贡献?恩斯特·阿贝为常规光学显微镜的分辨率设定了一个限制——半波长极限。贝齐格、赫尔和莫纳将已知的技术推至极限,最早探测到凝聚态体系中的单个荧光分子,利用荧光分子的开关效应,加上物理教科书上的受激辐射原理和数据分析中常用的拟合定位方法,绕开了这个似乎不能突破的极限。他们将光学显微技术带入到纳米尺度,引发了常温下活体生物学研究的又一场革命。他们对科学的追求堪称至极至美。这样的典范将来还会有,尤其是在物理学与生命科学的交叉领域。

Three physicists, Eric Betzig, Stefan Hell and William E. Moerner were award-ed the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2014 for developing super-resolution optical microscopy. They pushed the techniques of their time to extremes to image single molecules, discovered the on/off switching behaviors of fluorescent molecules, and applied the well-known stimulated emission phe-nomenon to bypass a presumed scientific limitation stipulating that an optical microscope can nev-er yield a resolution better than 200 nm. The new techniques will lead to a revolution in life sci-ence. Using them, scientists can now monitor the interplay between individual molecules inside cells and track cell division at the nano-level, to name but a few.