Photo of Maier Steve  Avendaño

Biotechnology & medicine

Maier Steve Avendaño

His high definition, fluorescent microscopy techniques can be used to observe molecules separated by a mere five nanometers

Year Honored
2015

Region
Latin America

Hails From
Colombia

"The microscope is only of the tools most commonly used by scientists to reveal the mysteries of nature and science. There are, however, still limitations on the visualization of cells or molecules that have been modified through certain treatments. It is therefore of vital importance to expand our vision further than what we can currently see (200 nanometers) to generate advances in the studies underway in the fields of cancer or neurobiological research, to name just two of the forerunners.

In response to this need, Maier Avendaño has developed groundbreaking new, fluorescent microscopy techniques that break down these barriers by allowing scientists to observe objects separated by no more than five nanometers. His process creates brightly colored images which depict almost every scientific advancement in the field of cellular biology. In addition, his superresolution techniques are currently being used within the Exchange-PAINT and q-PAINT projects to observe different points of light, making it possible to perform extremely precise quantitative studies."