Optical microscopy is the oldest form of microscopy that has been visually aiding scientific research. In our research, I have reported here two such optical microscopy techniques for two different projects. In the first project, we re-developed an instrumentation of a cost-effective, high-performing, single-molecular localization super-resolution microscopy setup that breaks the diffraction limitation barrier. Then we use a stochastic image capturing technique to capture the best precision image positions of gold nanoparticles. In our second project, we apply confocal microscopy technique to image DNA molecular nanoscale structural alterations of chromatin in cell nuclei of gut tissues caused by total body irradiation (TBI). We then quantify these alterations using a light localization technique called inverse participation ratio (IPR) using the confocal micrographs of the sample. Our results show radiation causes reduction and saturation of DNA spatial mass density fluctuations that were observed for different durations of post-irradiation.

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<p>Video super-resolution for dual-mode cameras in single-view and mono-view scenarios is studied in this thesis. Dual-mode cameras are capable of generating high-resolution still images while shooting video sequences at low-resolution. High-resolution still images are used to form a regularization function for solving the inverse problem of super-resolution. Exploiting proposed regularization function in this thesis obviates the need for classic regularization function. Experimental results show that using proposed regularization function instead of classic regularization functions for super-resolution of single-view video leads to improved results. In this thesis, super-resolution problem is divided into low-resolution frame fusion and de-blurring. A frame fusion scheme for multi-view video is proposed and performance improvement when exploiting multi-view sequence instead of single-view for frame fusion is studied. Experimental results show that information taken by a set of cameras instead of a single camera can improve super-resolution process, especially when video contains fast motions. As a side work, we applied our low-resolution multi-view frame fusion algorithm to 3D frame-compatible format resolution enhancement. Multi-view video super-resolution using high-resolution still images is performed at the decoder to prevent increasing computation complexity of the encoder. Experimental results show that this method delivers comparable compression efficiency for lower bit-rates.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

The nuclear pore complex is closely involved in the regulation and control of many cellular processes, including the movement of molecules into and out of the nucleus along with the regulation of gene transcription. It is therefore a major barrier for controlling the passage of signaling molecules into and out of the nucleus. β-catenin is one such signaling molecule, and a primary signaling molecule of the Wnt signaling pathway. How the passage of β-catenin into and out of the nucleus is controlled remains poorly defined. This signaling pathway governs major developmental processes, including cell fate determination, proliferation, motility and primary axis and head formation during development. In this study, we use super-resolution microscopy to show that β-catenin import requires Custos as a docking protein. Custos and β-catenin form a complex in the cytoplasm and move together through the NPC into the nucleus, where they dissociate in the nucleus. Further, we provide evidence that import of β-catenin into the nucleus is a regulatory event at the NPC and define regions within the β-catenin protein required for this regulation. / Biology