New Super-Resolution Microscope Aims to Unlock Secrets of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Science Minister Chris McDonald unveiled a bespoke super-resolution instrument nicknamed “Curie” at the Rosalind Franklin Institute, Oxfordshire. The microscope operates at roughly ten times the resolution of conventional light microscopes, reaching detail as fine as 20 nanometres. Its debut coincided with the announcement of £67 million of funding for the Institute over the next five years beginning in April 2027, plus an additional £90 million for the Henry Royce Institute, both sourced from UK Research and Innovation’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

The Guardian

Curie employs stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy, a two-laser technique that earned its inventors the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics. The first laser excites fluorescent tags attached to cellular structures; a second, doughnut-shaped laser suppresses fluorescence everywhere except the centre of the doughnut, isolating a sub-diffraction-limited spot. — “This allows the microscope to distinguish structures that are much closer together than would be possible using a conventional fluorescence microscope, producing images with exceptionally high resolution,” — Pombo-Garcia. The Deformable mirrors further correct optical distortions, making Curie the only system of its kind in the United Kingdom.

The Guardian

The British Society of Gastroenterology estimates that more than half a million people in the UK live with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), primarily Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, most often diagnosed between ages 15 and 40. — “What this microscope technology and what the science we do in the lab can bring is really to understand the mechanism [of IBD] better,” — Dr Karina Pombo-Garcia PhD student Dimitrios Ioannidis is using Curie to visualise protein complexes that form the intestinal barrier, comparing healthy developmental stages with diseased tissue. By mapping structural changes that accompany functional shifts, researchers hope to pinpoint the root causes of IBD and guide the development of targeted therapies.

The Guardian

The new funding arrives as the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) announced a need to save £162 million by 2030, citing rising energy costs, staffing expenses, and adverse currency movements. The cuts threaten a 15 percent reduction in budgets for nearby national facilities—including the Diamond Light Source, Central Laser Facility, and ISIS Neutron and Muon Source—raising concerns within the scientific community.

The Guardian

• “What this microscope technology and what the science we do in the lab can bring is really to understand the mechanism [of IBD] better,” — Dr Karina Pombo-Garcia, group leader, Rosalind Franklin Institute

The Guardian

• “This allows the microscope to distinguish structures that are much closer together than would be possible using a conventional fluorescence microscope, producing images with exceptionally high resolution,” — Dr Karina Pombo-Garcia, group leader, Rosalind Franklin Institute

The Guardian