Zeiss Microscopy technology granted European patent

Drs. Harald Hess and Eric Betzig of Carl Zeiss Microscopy have received a European patent for their superresolution photoactivated localization microscopy (PAL-M) technology. They received US patents based on the same invention in 2009 and 2011.

The latest patent protects methods and devices for PAL-M, which activates and excites only a small number of fluorescent dye molecules in a sample at a time. This enables the physical position of the individual fluorescent molecules to be determined to within a few nanometers. A superresolution image of the sample is generated by repeating a photoinduced separation of fluorescent dye molecules and adding consecutively captured individual images.

Carl Zeiss Microscopy obtained exclusive rights to place PAL-M on the market in 2007, and on this basis, developed the ELYRA P.1 and PS.1 superresolution systems.