Interferometric Scattering (iSCAT) Microscopy

We are currently working on developing our own interferometric scattering (iSCAT) microscope to improve the understanding of biological mechanisms. iSCAT utilizes the scattered light collected from a metal nanoparticle and reimages it using a unique interference-based detection scheme. The next application for this microscopy technique would be to modify it in such a way to monitor the interactions between biological materials and metal particles to map their diffusion trajectory. Protein tracking in membranes is essential because biological membranes are structurally heterogeneous, and we can understand this heterogeneity by following the movement of particles through the membrane with high resolution and without limitation of observation time.