Fiat lux

After the breaking of the Abbe limit, biophotonics became once again a new and exciting research field that is already delivering substantial dividends in a wide range of applications from fundamental medical research to diagnosis, therapy and surgery. This analyzes Philip Hunter, in Vol 8 | No 10 of EMBO reports, the journal of the European Molecular Biology Organization that sharply focuses all the areas of molecular biology. Technical advances like quantitative phase contrasting imaging; optical coherence tomography; raman spectroscopy and two-photon laser scanning microscopy, bestowed optical imaging the ability to observe biochemical processes in real time. In the latter technique, the use of fluorescence underlight how reporter genes can generate innovations, allowing scientists to shine light on the manifold mysteries off the cell at a level of detail only previously possible with electron microscopy.