Researchers share design for affordable single-molecule microscope

With education budgets shrinking at universities in many parts of the world, every expense matters. Thanks to a team of scientists and students from the University of Sheffield, stocking the chem lab just got a little less expensive.

In a new paper, published Friday in the journal Nature Communications, researchers shared plans for the construction of a more affordable single-molecule microscope.

The so-called smfBox isn't just any microscope; it's a specialist microscope capable of performing a photophysical process called FÃ¶rster Resonance Energy Transfer, or FRET.

Single-molecule FRET microscopes are used in just a handful of high-tech labs around the world to measure relative and absolute distances between molecules.

The microscopes work by measuring the efficiency of the energy transfer between two light-sensitive molecules, which correlates with the distance by which the molecules are separated. FRET microscopes are important tools for the study of nucleic acids and proteins.

Normally, single-molecule FRET microscopes cost upwards of half-a-million dollars, but scientists and students at Sheffield were able to make the smfBox for roughly $50,000.

Researchers did their best to compose blueprints they say will make their smfBox relatively easy to build and use.

They deployed lasers that are much safer than those typically used in FRET microscopes, and also shielded the microscope's lasers in a way that ensures they work under normal lighting -- no dark room necessary.

"We wanted to democratize single-use molecule measurements to make this method available for many labs, not just a few labs throughout the world," project leader Tim Craggs said in a news release. "This work takes what was a very expensive, specialist piece of kit, and gives every lab the blueprint and software to build it for themselves, at a fraction of the cost."

"Many medical diagnostics are moving towards increased sensitivity, and there is nothing more sensitive than detecting single molecules. In fact, many new COVID tests currently under development work at this level. This instrument is a good starting point for further development towards new medical diagnostics," said Craggs, a lecturer in chemical biology at the University of Sheffield.

Scientists and students at Sheffield have already started using their smfBox to do some basic biomolecule science.

But researchers expect the impact of the new technology to only became apparent as labs around the world start deploying their own newly built smfBox microscopes in novel ways.

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