Researchers from the University of Cambridge in the U.K. have developed a new imaging technique that could help create treatments for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

By using multi-dimensional super-resolution imaging, the technique makes it possible for doctors to study why proteins associated with the two diseases go from harmless to toxic, affecting nerve cells in the brain. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications.

"These proteins start out in a relatively harmless form, but when they clump together, something important changes," said Steven Lee, MD, the study’s lead author and a research fellow at the University of Cambridge, in a statement. “But using conventional imaging techniques, it hasn't been possible to see what's going on at the molecular level."

The imaging technique, sPAINT (spectrally-resolved point accumulation for imaging in nanoscale topography), is based on hydrophobicity in proteins and how they change. The researchers use dye molecule to map the hydrophobicity of amyloid fibrils and oligomers implicated in neurodegenerative diseases.

"There's something special about oligomers, and we want to know what it is," Lee said. "We've developed new tools that will help us answer these questions."