MINFLUX nanoscopy to study the NK cell immune synapse

Congratulations to Dr. Daniel Murin and the Murin Lab for their recent publication titled, “MINFLUX nanoscopy to study the NK cell immune synapse,” which is accessible as a book chapter in Methods of Cell Biology or on Elsevier.

San Diego BioMed’s Murin lab spotlights novel techniques in the fast-moving environment of biomedical research as it intersects with technological innovation.

Dr. Murin comments: “This work is a culmination of several months of effort to setup new methodology for studying natural killer (NK) cell biology using the cutting-edge technique of MINFLUX nanoscopy. We wanted to be able to see a protein named CD16a, which is responsible for inducing antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), within immune synapses formed by NK cells. We anticipated the need for sub-10 nanometer localization precision to be able to detect individual proteins on the NK cell surface and therefore turned to MINFLUX nanoscopy to perform these studies. MINFLUX is the result of Nobel Prize winning work in super-resolution microscopy that enables scientists to label proteins with fluorophores that blink and then identify those proteins with up to single nanometer localization precision. Before we began this project, there were no protocols for utilizing the MINFLUX in the way required to study NK cell synapse structure. Therefore, Dr. Ross was able to pioneer a new methodology that enabled us to collect high quality single molecule data. The paper we have published as a book chapter in Methods in Cell Biology details this methodology and includes protocols for sample prep, data collection, and data analysis.

This is second paper published by the Murin Lab in less than a year and we are very proud of this accomplishment!”

Read and learn more by clicking here or downloading the PDF below!