A €600,000 microscope for stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy, enabling the exploration of the most complex parts of cell structure and development of optimal innovative STED technology protocols for application in biomedicine, has arrived at Zagreb's Rudjer Boskovic Institute (IRB).

The microscope, first such in Croatia, was procured with the help of funding granted under a project that is part of the European Fund for Regional Development, according to the Institute.

It will be used by the IRB laboratory headed by Professor Iva Tolic.

Stimulated emission depletion microscopy is one of the techniques that make up super-resolution microscopy. It is a method used to bypass the diffraction limit of light microscopy in studying the smallest structures of matter. German physicist Stefan W. Hell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2014 for its development.

The application of STED technologies will help IRB researchers to conduct, in cooperation with physicists at the Zagreb Faculty of Science, the research of signalling proteins and live human tumour cells following the application of potential cancer treatment drugs.