Measuring the 3D STED-PSF with a new Type of Fluorescent Beads

A new type of fluorescent bead is presented by GATTAquant. These beads, called GATTA-Beads, are characterized by a small diameter (23 nm), high intensity and size uniformity. In combination with state-of the-art STED microscopes such as the Leica TCS SP8 STED 3X and high-end image restoration methods available in the Huygens Software, it is shown that these new beads can be used for accurate STED PSF characterization in 3D. Furthermore, it is shown that the measured 3D STED-PSF can be used to improve image restoration quality in combination with STED deconvolution methods available in the Huygens Software.