Until recently, researchers have had to use either very expensive microscope hardware, or highly complex -- and often imprecise -- microscopy software, to see individual, fluorescently-labeled molecules in tightly bunched groups in cells. Now, a simplified method known as qPAINT uses the blinking pattern of the light that marks each molecule, to find, count and study individual molecules that are just a few nanometers apart -- all using the standard microscopes already found in laboratories.
