Leica AS LMD –
The Latest Advance in Laser Microdissection

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Genetic regulations and alterations have been associated with normal development and function as well as diseased states. However, such changes often vary among different cell types in heterogeneous tissues. The ability to isolate specific cell types from heterogeneous tissues allows increased specificity and sensitivity of the molecular signals under analysis. With advances in genomic and proteomic technologies, nucleic acids and proteins can be extracted and quantified from a small sample of pure cell populations. Such advances increasingly require a precise and efficient method to isolate differentcell types from heterogeneous tissues.

Laser microdissection emerges as such a technology. It is also frequently referred to as laser capture microdissection (LCM) or laserassisted microdissection. Manual microdissection has been used for along time and is still used in certain fields. Manual microdissection allows dissection of largeregions and thick sections, but is verylabor intensive and not practical for single cell isolation. Laser microdissection, on the other hand, allows faster, easier, and more precise dissecting and transferring of individual cells as well as large regions of interest.