Super-resolution microscope is expected to break the monopoly

In today's world, the size of objects observed by the top confocal microscope is about 50 nanometers, while the current domestic technology can only reach between 200 nanometers and 300 nanometers. However, this kind of high-precision technical barrier monopolized by Europe and the United States is expected to be broken in Suzhou. The reporter recently learned from the Suzhou Institute of Medical Science and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that the institute is developing a project to develop "super-resolution micro-optical core components and systems." Within five years, a super-resolution microscope with a resolution of 50 nanometers will be introduced to fill the domestic gap of the technology. At present, the project has been successfully approved as a “National Major Instruments Project” and will receive a national special research funding of more than 170 million yuan.

“At present, the most advanced confocal microscope in the country can only see cells. If we can push the resolution to 50 nanometers, we can clearly see the living structure of cells, the changes inside cells and their movements. In fact, it is possible to observe approximately one-thousandth of a living cell's internal living body movements.” Deputy Director of Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Optics, “Double-creation Talent” and “Leading Talent of Gusu” Xiong Dazhao told reporters Introduction.

For a long time, our country lacks the independent R&D and innovation capabilities of high-end microscopic optical systems and their key components, which seriously restricts China’s major scientific discoveries and technological innovations. It has become a bottleneck in the development of China’s leading scientific research and scientific instrument industries. At present, all domestic high-end laser scanning confocal microscopes with prices ranging from 2 million to 5 million yuan are all imported. And the most advanced foreign super-resolution microscope optical system, quoted at 10 million yuan.

In view of the current status of the industry in the country, in 2010, the Suzhou Institute of Laboratories aimed at the country’s major strategic needs and initiated the development of a laser scanning confocal microscope. In just over two years, the laser scanning confocal microscope prototype has been developed. . On this basis, the Suzhou Institute of Industrial Science and Technology has successfully applied for the National Major Instruments Special Project, “Development of Super Resolution Micro-Optical Core Components and Systems”. It is reported that the project will rely on the technical advantages of optical design, laser technology, and precision optical machining, detection, and adjustment of Suzhou Medical Devices to develop a super-resolution microscopic optical system with independent intellectual property rights. The main technical indicators are resolution. 50 nm, spectral detection range 400-800 nm.

"Once this project is put into operation, it will fill the domestic gap, break the monopoly of the high-end microscopic optical instruments market in Europe and the United States and other developed countries, and provide a complete solution from the key components to the system for the development of modern micro-optical technology in China. It meets the urgent need for advanced scientific instruments in frontier scientific research such as biomedicine, major disease prevention and control, and the creation of major new drugs, helping people better understand the origin and structure of life and enabling China to reach the forefront of the development of high-end optical microscopes in the world. In the future, the price of our products will be more than half of the cost of imported instruments, which will greatly reduce the costs of medical and related industries, said Tang Yuguo, chief scientist of the Suzhou Medical Institute and the national "973" project.