bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/373647; this version posted July 20, 2018. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. Solid immersion microscopy readily and inexpensively enables 12 nm resolution on plunge-frozen cells Lin Wanga,1, Benji Batemana,1, Laura C. Zanetti-Dominguesa,1, Amy N. Mooresa, Sam Astburya, Christopher Spindloea, Michele C. Darrowb, Maria Romanoc,d, Sarah R. Needhama, Konstantinos Beisc,d, Daniel J. Rolfea, David T. Clarkea and Marisa L. Martin-Fernandeza,2 aScience and Technology Facilities Council, Central Laser Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot OX11 0QX, United Kingdom bDiamond Light Source, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot OX11 0DE, United Kingdom cDepartment of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom dResearch Complex at Harwell, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot OX11 0FA, United Kingdom 1These authors contributed equally to the work 2 To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email:
[email protected] Keywords: Cryo-fluorescence microscopy, solid immersion lens, STORM, super-resolution, cell imaging Running title: Low-cost/tech STORM for 12 nm resolution Abstract Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy achieves 20-30 nm resolution by using liquid-immersion objectives to optimize light collection and chemical sample fixation to minimize image blurring. It is known that fluorophore brightness increases substantially under cryogenic conditions and that cryo- fixation is far superior in preserving ultrastructure. However, cryogenic conditions have not been exploited to improve resolution or sample quality because liquid immersion media freezes at the objective, losing its optical properties.