Human kidney cell, Gated-STED microscopy

Gated-stimulated emission depletion (STED) micrograph of a single human kidney cell. The protein labelled within the cell (red) is called actin, which forms a filamentous skeleton inside cells (like a road network for the cell). Actin has been labelled with green fluorescent protein (GFP) and the image is shown in false colour to show different levels of fluorescence intensity. The actin network can be very complex and is too small to see using ordinary microscopy. This image has been acquired using super-resolution microscopy, which bypasses the diffraction limit to enable us to see much smaller structures than previously possible. Being able to visualise these intricate connections that actin makes can help us understand cellular growth, transport and in turn cell communication. Width of image is 33 micrometres. Gated-STED is one type of super-resolution microscopy.