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Max Planck Innovation Concludes Licensing Agreement for Technology Providing Unlimited Resolution in Microscopy
Overcoming Abbe's law in light microscopy

31 May 2007 - Max Planck Innovation GmbH, the technology transfer agency of the Max Planck Society, has signed a co-exclusive license agreement with Leica Microsystems and Carl Zeiss MicroImaging GmbH for the RESOLFT (reversible saturable optical fluorescent transitions) technology, a method providing molecular scale resolution with visible light and regular lenses for use in microscopy.
 
The technology is breaking the century-old diffraction resolution barrier in conventional microscopy and allows for resolution of the size order of a dye molecule, i.e. a sharpness of one or two nanometers. While a number of technologies such as electron microscopy exist to visualize virus particles, sub cellular structures and macromolecules, RESOLFT fluorescence microscopy for the first time enables researchers to observe these structures inside of living cells without destroying them.
 
Both licensees will now seek to develop novel microscopes and imaging technologies based on the RESOLFT technology. "We decided to offer the technology for co-exclusive licensing to strengthen the German industry base," said Jörn Erselius, Managing Director of Max Planck Innovation. "However we decided to limit the number of co-licensing opportunities to three, so a third license is still available. In addition the technology is still available for licensing in the field of creating a permanent structure with high three-dimensional resolution."