About this Research Topic
The performance of fluorescent probes in super-resolution microscopy is dependent on several important photo-physical parameters, such as fluorescent brightness and fluorophore switching between bright emissive (on) and dark (off) states. Organic dyes, with their smaller size, have excellent blinking properties, but are often dim and undergo rapid photobleaching. Photoactivable or photoswitchable fluorescent proteins suffer from poor localization precision due to their low photon counts. Nanomaterials, quantum dots, carbon dots, polymers dots, etc. have shown promise due to their high brightness and photostability, and yet their large size compared to organic dyes limits their range of potential applications in super-resolution microscopy. Furthermore, the toxic nature of several nanoprobes restricts their usefulness in living cells. As a result, further improvement is needed through the design and synthesis of novel fluorescent probes with improved performance for long-term real-time super resolution imaging.
This Research Topic aims to investigate new fluorescent probes with improved efficiency that can advance the field of super-resolution microscopy. Original research articles and perspectives are welcome from multidisciplinary research fields, with focus on topics including, but not limited to:
• Novel fluorescent molecular probes or fluorescent proteins for super-resolution microscopy
• Design and synthesis of smaller quantum dots, carbon dots, polymer dots, or nanomaterials
• Fluorescent upconversion materials (e.g., nanoclusters, MOFs) for SRM
• Any other nanostructured materials fulfilling the criteria for a probe for Super-resolution microscopy
Keywords: Super-resolution microscopy, photoswitching, fluorescent probe, nanomaterial, quantum dots
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