Rice University researchers have added a new dimension to their breakthrough technique that expands the capabilities of standard laboratory microscopes.

Two years ago, the Rice lab of chemist Christy Landes introduced super temporal resolution microscopy, a technique that allowed researchers to image fluorescent molecules 20 times faster than traditional lab cameras normally allow. They've now developed a general method to let a microscope capture 3D spatial information along with the fourth dimension, molecular movement over time.

This, they say, will help scientists who study dynamic processes view where molecules of interest are located and how fast they move -- for example, within living cells.

The Rice method to expand the capabilities of existing wide-field fluorescence microscopes is detailed in the team's open-access paper in Optics Express.

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