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Lecture

Confocal Microscopy: Principles and Applications

In course

MICRO-562: Experimental biomicroscopy

By combining hands-on and theoretical training, this course introduces commonly used optical microscopy techniques. The lab training takes place in BIOP Core Facility and provides access to use microscopes and image biological samples. Theoretical part cov ...

Description

This lecture covers the principles and applications of confocal microscopy, focusing on the elimination of out-of-focus fluorescence to yield superior images. It explains the confocal method's ability to address questions about fluorescent specimens, the use of pinholes for axial filtering, and the components of a laser scanning confocal microscopy system. The lecture also discusses detectors for confocal microscopy, the scan microscope head, and the advantages of confocal imaging over wide-field microscopy.

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Instructors (2)

Arne Seitz

04/1996-06/2000 Scientific co-worker at Philipps-University of Marburg, Dep. of Physical Chemistry 07/2000-10/2002 Post Doc at Max-Planck Unit for Structural Molecular Biology in Hamburg 11/2002-11/2005 Post Doc at European Molecular Biolohy Laboratory (EMBL), Cell Biology and Cell Biophysics Programme 11/2005-03/2009 Staff Scientist at Advanced Light Microscopy Facility, EMBL 04/2009- Head of Bioimaging and Optics platforme (BIOP), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

Hatice Altug

2020-current Full Professor at the Institute of Bioengineering, EPFL, Switzerland2013-2020 Associate Professor (with tenure) at the Institute of Bioengineering, EPFL, Switzerland 2013 Associate Professor (with tenure) at Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of Boston University, USA 2007-2013 Assistant Professor (tenure-track) at Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of Boston University, USA 2007 Post-doctoral Fellow at Center for Engineering in Medicine of Harvard Medical School, USA 2000-2007 PhD. in Applied Physics at Stanford University, USA 1996-2000 B.S. in Physics at Bilkent University, Turkey

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Ontological neighbourhood

Biology

Anatomy: Histology

Related concepts (32)

Confocal microscopy

Confocal microscopy, most frequently confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) or laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM), is an optical imaging technique for increasing optical resolution and contrast of a micrograph by means of using a spatial pinhole to block out-of-focus light in image formation. Capturing multiple two-dimensional images at different depths in a sample enables the reconstruction of three-dimensional structures (a process known as optical sectioning) within an object.

Fluorescence microscope

A fluorescence microscope is an optical microscope that uses fluorescence instead of, or in addition to, scattering, reflection, and attenuation or absorption, to study the properties of organic or inorganic substances. "Fluorescence microscope" refers to any microscope that uses fluorescence to generate an image, whether it is a simple set up like an epifluorescence microscope or a more complicated design such as a confocal microscope, which uses optical sectioning to get better resolution of the fluorescence image.

Microscopy

Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view objects and areas of objects that cannot be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of microscopy: optical, electron, and scanning probe microscopy, along with the emerging field of X-ray microscopy. Optical microscopy and electron microscopy involve the diffraction, reflection, or refraction of electromagnetic radiation/electron beams interacting with the specimen, and the collection of the scattered radiation or another signal in order to create an image.

Super-resolution microscopy

Super-resolution microscopy is a series of techniques in optical microscopy that allow such images to have resolutions higher than those imposed by the diffraction limit, which is due to the diffraction of light. Super-resolution imaging techniques rely on the near-field (photon-tunneling microscopy as well as those that use the Pendry Superlens and near field scanning optical microscopy) or on the far-field.

Total internal reflection fluorescence microscope

A total internal reflection fluorescence microscope (TIRFM) is a type of microscope with which a thin region of a specimen, usually less than 200 nanometers can be observed. TIRFM is an imaging modality which uses the excitation of fluorescent cells in a thin optical specimen section that is supported on a glass slide. The technique is based on the principle that when excitation light is totally internally reflected in a transparent solid coverglass at its interface with a liquid medium, an electromagnetic field, also known as an evanescent wave, is generated at the solid-liquid interface with the same frequency as the excitation light.

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