Australia gets cutting-edge microscope

The "secrets of life" could be revealed by a powerful new microscope, the only one in Australia. Source: AAP

THE "secrets of life" could be revealed by a powerful new microscope, the only one of its kind in Australia.

THE $5 million, three-metre tall microscope, unveiled at Monash University in Melbourne, allows researchers to see molecular structures at very high resolution.

"This is one of the most exciting days of my life," said Professor James Whisstock, the Australian Research Centre's director of advanced molecular imaging. Professor Whisstock hopes the microscope will lead to better treatments for diseases, such as cancer, diabetes and multiple sclerosis. "Understanding our immune system is central to fighting cancer, infectious diseases such as malaria, and auto-immune diseases such as diabetes, rheumatism and multiple sclerosis.

 "The key to understanding and treating these diseases lies in understanding how proteins and cells interact at the molecular level." Professor Whisstock said the instrument highlights how physics and engineering together can be used to answer biological problems.

 "We need physicists and engineers to be able to build these devices that can see the secrets of life." Until now Australian scientists had to travel to Europe, the UK or the US in order to access similar microscopes. "The problem with that is transporting biological material internationally is quite hard." The Dutch-made Titan Krios instrument works by firing electrons through a sample.

 Some of the electrons in the beam are deflected and these rays can be used to create a 2D image of the sample. Multiple 2D images can then be automatically pieced together to create 3D images of molecules.