Super-resolved live-cell imaging using random illumination microscopy

Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy has been instrumental to progress in biology. Yet, the photo-induced toxicity, the loss of resolution into scattering samples or the complexity of the experimental setups curtail its general use for functional cell imaging. Here, we describe a new technology for tissue imaging reaching a 114nm/8Hz resolution at 30 µm depth. Random Illumination Microscopy (RIM) consists in shining the sample with uncontrolled speckles and extracting a high-fidelity super-resolved image from the variance of the data using a reconstruction scheme accounting for the spatial correlation of the illuminations. Super-resolution unaffected by optical aberrations, undetectable phototoxicity, fast image acquisition rate and ease of use, altogether, make RIM ideally suited for functional live cell imaging in situ . RIM ability to image molecular and cellular processes in three dimensions and at high resolution is demonstrated in a wide range of biological situations such as the motion of Myosin II minifilaments in Drosophila .