In its coverage of emerging trends in research technology, the website of Science, the world’s leading journal of scientific research, recognized recent advances made by biophysicist Hyungsik Lim and his Hunter College team. In studies funded by the National Institutes of Health, Professor Lim’s lab has found a new way to detect the deterioration of myelin, the substance that coats nerve cells and enables the proper functioning of the nervous system. Using an optical microscope rather than the commonly used MRI machine, the Hunter researchers are getting much sharper, more detailed images of myelin in the living brain. These high-resolution images will eventually be useful in diagnosing and treating MS and other devastating neurological diseases.
