Nanoscale imaging of expanded cells and proteins with spontaneously blinking dyes

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bioRxiv. 2026 Feb 23;. doi: 10.64898/2026.02.23.707413
Nanoscale imaging of expanded cells and proteins with spontaneously blinking dyes Lavis Lab
Taban D, Jungblut M, Budiarta M, Helmerich DA, Kiesel C, Plutkis SE, Lavis LD, Krah D, Shaib AH, Doose S, Kollmannsberger P, Rizzoli SO, Beliu G, Sauer M
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Abstract

Expansion microscopy (ExM) enables nanoscale imaging on standard microscopes, but combining ExM with single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) remains difficult, owing to the incompatibility of expanded hydrogels with photoswitching buffers. Here, we introduce a single-step expansion microscopy method that allows SMLM with spontaneously blinking dyes in 6-14× expanded samples, without re-embedding. We demonstrate nanometer-resolution imaging by resolving the organization of the nuclear pore complex (NPC) and the molecular structure of recombinant homotrimeric proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA).

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Janelia Authors

Sarah Plutkis
Luke Lavis
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