Scientists and students design cheaper single-molecule microscope

Published today (6 November 2020) in the journal Nature Communications, the paper provides instructions on building the microscope, called the sfmBox, which is said to be capable of single-molecule measurements allowing scientists to look at just one molecule at a time rather than generating a result from bulk samples.

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The single-molecule method is currently only available at a few specialist labs throughout the world due to the significant commercial cost of these microscopes. According to the team, spanning Sheffield University’s Departments of Chemistry and Physics, and the Central Laser Facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, a ‘relatively modest’ £40,000 was spent on building the piece of kit which would usually cost around £400,000 to buy.

Dr Tim Craggs, the lead academic on the project from Sheffield University, said: “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.”