Researchers at The Jackson Laboratory use the world's most powerful optical microscope to visualize the structure of genetic material within the nucleus of a single cell. When viewed through special glasses, this image of a cell from a mouse brain becomes a three-dimensional holograph that appears to rotate and float in midair.—STAFF ILLUSTRATION BY CATHERINE MCKINNEY

BAR HARBOR — Tucked away within the labyrinth of subterranean hallways beneath The Jackson Laboratory is the world’s most powerful optical microscope.

“We had 25 or 26 terabytes over the last 30 years of data storage for the whole Lab. And then suddenly we had this device that can generate a terabyte a day.” — Scott McNeil, chief information officer

Researchers throughout the world can make use of the instrument, too, as it can be remotely controlled and its imagery distributed digitally to scientists who understand the significance of what they’re seeing.

Developed in Germany, the Lab’s Leica 4Pi confocal laser scanning microscope is the only one of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. Its live-cell imaging capabilities allow researchers to study the dynamics of individual proteins and other compounds within living cells. Cancer investigators, for example, can watch as an experimental drug interacts with a living cancer cell.

Some of the imagery the device delivers seems to float in thin air when users wear special glasses that enhance the 3-D effect. Brightly colored images that look real enough to touch can be rotated for a 360-degree perspective on the structures under study.

“The general application of these methods will provide unprecedented insights into cellular molecular events,” said Joerg Bewersdorf of The Jackson Laboratory’s Institute for Molecular Biophysics. “[It] represents a significant advance in our ability to visualize and quantify nuclear proteins in three dimensions.”

The device was acquired in 2006 with the help of a $1.25 million grant from the Keck Foundation of Los Angeles and a $732,624 grant in 2004 from the National Science Foundation.

The 4Pi microscope’s capabilities presented the Lab with no small challenges in terms of addressing the bandwidth requirements of the mountains of digital data it generates. When Jackson Lab scientists first began using the device, it was producing more data than their information system could handle. Imagery to be shared with other research centers had to be delivered by “sneaker net.”

That involved driving two hours to physically deliver multiple files of stored images to the University of Maine in Orono, which has the technological ability to share them digitally with other similarly equipped researchers worldwide.

Working in partnership with the University of Maine, Jackson Lab has spent the last four years expanding its bandwidth capabilities and tapping into Internet2. A research and development consortium involving more than 200 U.S. universities, Internet2 users work closely with industry and government in developing advanced networking capabilities that extend well beyond the limitations of the conventional Internet.

“We needed to go from 20 megabytes to, some people said, up to 1 gigabyte, which is 50 times what we had,” said Scott McNeil, the Lab’s senior director for informational technology and its chief information officer. “Quite frankly, back then, I didn’t believe that.”

He does now. Beyond the many other 24/7 bandwidth requirements of the Lab’s 38 biomedical research teams, the 4Pi microscope on its own can generate a terabyte of data in a single day. That’s the equivalent of 1,000 gigabytes, or 1 trillion bytes.

“We had 25 or 26 terabytes over the last 30 years of data storage for the whole lab,” McNeil said. “And then suddenly we had this device that can generate a terabyte a day. Not only can you generate it, you have to store it someplace and back it up someplace and deal with how you share it.”

Working through the University of Maine and using bond funding provided by the state, a $5-million, high-capacity fiber optic network that will link The Jackson Laboratory to medical research centers in Boston and beyond is now being planned, constructed and phased into use.

“We’re in great shape today,” McNeil said. “Among the leading institutions of our size, we now have more connectivity than anybody. But the issue is how is that going to change in the future?

“I can’t imagine transferring pedabytes of data, which is 1,000 terabytes, but the technology isn’t going to slow down.”