TY - GEN A1 - Klauß, André A1 - König, Marcelle A1 - Hille, Carsten T1 - Upgrade of a scanning confocal microscope to a single-beam path STED microscope T2 - PLoS ONE N2 - By overcoming the diffraction limit in light microscopy, super-resolution techniques, such as stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy, are experiencing an increasing impact on life sciences. High costs and technically demanding setups, however, may still hinder a wider distribution of this innovation in biomedical research laboratories. As far-field microscopy is the most widely employed microscopy modality in the life sciences, upgrading already existing systems seems to be an attractive option for achieving diffraction-unlimited fluorescence microscopy in a cost-effective manner. Here, we demonstrate the successful upgrade of a commercial time-resolved confocal fluorescence microscope to an easy-to-align STED microscope in the single-beam path layout, previously proposed as "easy-STED", achieving lateral resolution