New views at the nanoscale
Magnetic resonance imaging, first developed in the early 1970s, has become a standard diagnostic tool for cancer, cardiovascular disease and neurological disorders, among others. MRI is ideally suited to medical imaging because it offers an unparalleled three-dimensional glimpse inside living tissue without damaging the tissue. However, its use in scientific studies has been limited because it can’t image anything smaller than several cubic micrometers.Now scientists are combining the 3-D capability of MRI with the precision of a technique called atomic force microscopy. This combination enables 3-D visualization of tiny specimens such as viruses, cells and potentially structures inside cells — a 100-million-fold improvement over MRI used in hospitals. Last year, Christian Degen, MIT assistant professor of chemistry, and colleagues at the IBM Almaden Research Center, where Degen worked as a postdoctoral associate before coming to MIT, used that strategy to build the first MRI device that can capture 3-D images...