Posts Tagged ‘microscopy’
A Beginner’s Guide to Hematoxylin and Eosin Staining
Discover what hematoxylin and eosin staining is used for and how it works, in this concise guide.
Read More4 Fixatives for Histology and Cytometry. Perfect Your Preservation
Learn about four fixatives for histology, which one you should pick, and how. Plus, get some top tips for perfect sample preservation.
Read MoreConfocal Laser Scanning Microscopy Explained In 3 Easy Steps
Learn how confocal laser scanning microscopy works, its applications, and why it’s great for samples that are too thin to section.
Read MoreProtein Colocalization: 2 Essential Methods to Prove Protein Overlap
You know the drill. To prove your theory, you must show the colocalization of X and Y in a cell. Here are 2 ways to reveal protein colocalization.
Read MoreHow Using Oil Immersion Microscopy Can Increase Your Resolution
Oil immersion microscopy can improve your resolution in microscopy. This article will explain why this is the case and how you can use oil immersion microscopy in the lab!
Read MoreSimplicity in Science: How to Increase your Research Effectiveness by Doing Less
Discover how embracing simplicity in science can make you a more effective researcher while reducing your workload.
Read MoreScanning Electron Microscopy: 6 SEM Sample Preparation Pointers for Successful Imaging
Discover 6 critical scanning electron microscopy sample preparation points you need to know to get the best out of your SEM.
Read MoreThinking Outside the Box: Microscopy for Immunologists
We explore microscopy for immunologists and bring them into the light and away from the 96-well plate, at least for some of the time.
Read MoreLab Aches and How to Avoid Them
Pipetting all day? Scrolling and scrolling through Excel columns trying to make sense of your data? Spending hours at the microscope because your boss wants Nature-worthy pictures? It’s not uncommon that performing lab work forces you into unhealthy postures, and after a day at work your spine begs for mercy. How Your Posture Suffers on…
Read MoreGet Your Microscopy Mojo Back with Our Image Acquisition and Processing Tips
Ever since the invention of the first compound microscope by Zacharias Jansen in 1590, our understanding of the microscopic world has grown exponentially. Microscopes have evolved from mere assemblies of magnifying lenses to extremely powerful tools for visualization on the atomic scale. You can find a wealth of information on the workings of a microscope…
Read MoreThings to Consider When Buying a Microscope Camera (Part 2)
In the first part of this series, we discussed the differences between a color and a monochrome microscope camera and when one is advantageous over the other. We also touched on the subject of optimal camera resolution for a given imaging system. In this part, we will tackle a few additional camera specifications and how…
Read MoreThings to Consider When Buying a Microscope Camera (Part 1)
Purchasing a microscope camera is one of the most daunting tasks you might have to undertake. Before you set out to buy that camera, carefully consider your applications. Things like sample brightness or the speed of the phenomenon you are trying to capture can dictate your choices. Also, this is the time to make peace…
Read MoreHow to Use CellProfiler for Cell Imaging
Are you trying to figure out how to calculate intensities of fluorescently-labeled single cells? Do you have cells at high densities or present in clusters? Are you worried that your current cell imaging analysis software is unable to mark clear boundaries around each cell in a cell cluster? Don’t fear, because CellProfiler 2.1 is here to…
Read MoreDetecting Cell Apoptosis on Tissue Slides
Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, can be detected on tissue slides using stains in conjunction with immunohistochemistry and/or reporter assays.
Read MoreAnalyze Immunostained Slides with Semiquantitative Scoring
A routine task in the lab is to investigate the presence of your favorite protein in a range of histological samples. No doubt, staining your tissue sections using good old immunohistochemistry (IHC) would be your first choice. You just got to love a technique that has celebrated its 70th birthday, and is still used in…
Read MoreTips for Peering into the Interior of Mice Using Intravital Microscopy
Techniques to study entire tissues, such as brain imaging microscopy, provide great insight into the biology of the whole tissue, rather than just individual cells. Taking this one step further is intravital microscopy (IVM); a newer approach for the imaging of living tissues and organs in live animals. A wide variety of organs can be…
Read MoreThe Art and Science of Figure Creation: Think BIG to see Small
There are those of us who began our careers literally in the dark. Yes, there was a time and not that long ago, that all figures had to be on film. Slide presentations were slides. Micrographs were, well, micrographs on film. Figure creation involved several steps: figures for publications had to be mocked up; then…
Read MoreFour Tips for Working with Human Clinical Samples
While using human clinical samples in your research can provide robust and heterogeneous results applicable to larger portions of the population, working with these samples presents its own set of challenges. Here are some tricks I have learned to help isolate and grow your cells of interest while eliminating stromal, blood, or other undesired contaminants.…
Read MoreHow to Quantify Images in an Unbiased Way
Image analysis can be biased. Discover the three main steps to image quantification and learn how to quantify images in an unbiased way.
Read MoreControlling Color Image Quality in Microscopy: Start at the Beginning
The only constant with microscopy imaging is variability in both color and image quality. You only need to look at images in journal articles, posters, around your laboratory, or compare your images with a colleague’s—the evidence is staggering. Interestingly, variability doesn’t generally come from the digital camera, rather it comes from our use of imaging…
Read MoreQuick and Easy Automatic Cell Counting
Are you wondering how on earth you’re going to count thousands of cells across a stack of images? Well, I’m going to show you a simple method for automatic cell counting with ImageJ. For those of you unfamiliar with ImageJ, it’s a popular image processing program that runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux. Assuming you…
Read MoreLasers for Confocal Microscopy
Lasers were once called “a solution looking for a problem.” The word—which is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation—used to conjure up images of deadly weapons from Sci-Fi movies and TV series. However, their increasing use in everyday life, first in CD players and then in barcode scanners and pointers, have…
Read MoreA Simple Method for Measuring Intracellular Fluorescence
Fortunately for microscopy users, measuring intracellular fluorescence has been made relatively simple through an ImageJ plugin called the Cell Magic Wand. For those of you unfamiliar with ImageJ, it’s a popular image processing program that runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux. How to use ImageJ for measuring intracellular fluorescence First of all, to begin measuring…
Read MoreGetting Started with Raman Spectroscopy: What You Need to Know
Are you an assiduous biologist who prefers label-free imaging methods for biological samples analysis? Raman spectroscopy offers you a wonderland of imaging technique with unlimited benefits. To start with, Raman Spectroscopy is a spectroscopic technique based on inelastic scattering of monochromatic light usually from a laser in the visible or near infra-red part of electromagnetic…
Read MoreBrightness and Contrast in Microscopy Imaging
The concepts of brightness and contrast are so general, and the issues related to them so many, that it may seem strange to have a single brief article with such a title. Indeed, when we speak about brightness, we can think about the brightness of the light source, the aperture and magnification of the lens,…
Read MoreWhat Lipid Bilayers Can Do For You
We have to rely on artificial systems to test our hypotheses and often have to come up with original set-ups to investigate specific problems. One of these creative inventions is the use of supported lipid bilayers.
Read MoreScience on Wheels: How to Bring Science to the Masses with a Mobile Lab!
Ask a scientist why they love their job, and they will likely tell you it’s because they get to see and discover amazing things! Why, then, does science class in school never reflect this? A major problem identified in our society is lack of science interest and literacy. Mobile labs are helping to turn the…
Read MoreMicroscope Condensers: Don’t Forget Those Parts Underneath!
When you first start out using a microscope, you might only adjust the eye pieces, objectives, and the focus controls. However, you shouldn’t overlook the microscope condensers as they are an important part of the whole optical system of a microscope.
Read MoreOh the Options! Choosing a Calcium Indicator for Imaging
We can, however, use special dyes or engineered proteins to bind to calcium, indicating where in the cell it is. The trick is determining which probe is most suitable to your cells and application.
Read MoreThe Key to Unlocking DNA from FFPE Tissues
Formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues are valuable samples that typically come from human specimens collected for examination of the histology of biopsies for the detection of cancer. But each sample contains much more information just waiting to be unlocked. Despite the tiny sample size, DNA can be extracted from the tissue sections and used…
Read MoreHow to Make Lipid Bilayers
Supported lipid bilayers are a very useful tool in many fields of cell and membrane biology. But how easy is it to make them? Bilayers can be made quite reproducibly, once you have found a reliable protocol! However, it can take some time to optimize your technique, so to increase your chances, make sure you…
Read MoreImmunoscience or Immunoalchemy?
First of all let me say the technique of labeling tissues (immunohistochemistry, IHC), and cells (immunocytochemistry, ICC) is indeed immunoscience NOT alchemy, though at times it may certainly seem like alchemy! But to scientists inexperienced in this technique, who typically see the results of IHC/ICC experiments in the form of pretty pictures, it can certainly…
Read MoreMultifocal Structured Illumination Microscopy: The Fast Food of Super-Resolution Techniques
While most of us have heard of super resolution microscopy, many of you may not have heard of MSIM, or Multifocal Structured Illumination Microscopy. This under-the-radar imaging technique is relatively quick, cheap (by comparison) and will allow you to get a lot of data, fast. So What is MSIM Anyway? MSIM, as I mentioned earlier,…
Read MoreGo For Gram! Staining Bacteria for Light Microscopy
The Gram stain is another commonly used special stain in the histology lab. Why use a Gram stain? The Gram stain is a type of differential staining technique which represents an important initial step in the characterization and classification of bacteria using a light microscope. It is named after a Danish scientist, Hans Christian Gram,…
Read MoreHow to See the Cell Cycle Through Your Microscope
Even in the most basic applications, fluorescence microscopy can be a very powerful technique. Simply put, the ability to actually see the biology you are interested in cannot be matched in directness. Often, the aim of fluorescence microscopy is to observe the effect of an experimental manipulation. Ultimately, you would like to know that the…
Read MoreLet There Be Light! Microscope Maintenance Part 1: Routine Care and Replacing Bulbs
Do you want the best imaging experience each time you use a microscope? Well, this is a rhetorical question, as we all desire that these delicate optical instruments are clean, free from immersion oil and correctly aligned. From the routine checking of slides, capturing images for presentations and publications, to diagnosing diseases using point-of-care microscopes,…
Read MoreImportance of Color Reproduction in Microscopy Images
Through our eyes, seeing is not always believing. Under different lighting conditions, we tend to see the same objects as having the same color. For example, an apple will appear red whether it is lit by daylight or candlelight and a white sheet of paper will be perceived as being white regardless of the light…
Read MoreSpecial Stains for Histology: An Introduction and Basic Overview
Get introduced to some of the special stains for histology and learn some top tips for getting great results.
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