Interview with Stefan Hell: Breaking Nanoscale Boundaries

Stefan Hell is credited with having conceived and applied the first viable concept for breaking Abbe’s diffraction limit in a light-focusing microscope. He is a scientific member of the Max Planck Society and a director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany, where he currently leads the department of nanobiophotonics. Peter Anderson has interviewed Stefan Hell in the run-up to the LASER World of Photonics Congress (Munich, May 12-16, 2013).

The questions:

1. Breaking the Abbe diffraction limit is an incredible achievement. What led you to making that discovery?
2. What is the advantage of being able to study processes in cells at this scale?
3. What are the key features of STED microscopy/nanoscopy?
4. What are the current limitations of STED microscopy/nanoscopy?
5. How will nanoscopy change disease discovery, diagnosis, and drug development/efficacy?
6. What is the key to successful collaboration in a multi-disciplinary research field?
7. Where do you see the need for future development of optics and photonics components or devices?
8. What do you see as research challenges in the field of biophotonics?
9. Do you have any advice for young researchers as they begin their career?