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Leica Science Lab is a scientific and educational portal that offers topics concerning microscopy, ranging from the basics to specific application know-how. It is dedicated to be a lively, constantly developing science portal containing high-quality content, regularly publishing new and interesting articles, applications and tutorials, and having a steadily growing community of participating authors and experts. Among the highlights of the Leica Science Lab are interactive tutorials, for instance on GSDIM super-resolution, CARS microscopy, hybrid detection or Köhler illumination.

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Latest Articles

Excitation – Depletion and Emission Beam Paths in STED Microscopy

21. May 2012

Super-Resolution

STED is one technology, and it requires already additional beam-routings as compared to pure fluorescence imaging. The Leica TCS SP5 offers configurations with STED, confocal and multiphoton imaging in the very same instrument. This unique concept unites technologies of super-resolution fluorescence, multichannel confocal fluorescence, multiphoton-excited fluorescence and second-harmonic or higher order nonlinear image generation. The various beam-paths are shown and explained in this tutorial. Read article

Stimulated Emission Depletion (STED): a Super-Resolution Technique for Many Uses

21. May 2012

Super-Resolution

Among the new super-resolution technologies, stimulated emission depletion (STED) is the most versatile concept. Whether the sample is tissue, e.g. muscle striation details, classical cytoskeletons, nuclear proteins, yeast or bacterial details: STED serves for understanding structure and function by showing the very finest details. Read article

Laser Microdissection Publication List

20. May 2012

Laser Microdissection

This monthly updated reference list demonstrates the major application fields for laser microdissection in life science research. Read article

Beam Paths of a Continuous Wave STED Microscope

14. May 2012

Super-Resolution

This tutorial gives on overview of the excitation of an detection light path with a continuous wave (CW) STED microscope. Read article

Webinar: Live Cell Imaging – Cell-Cell Interactions

10. May 2012

Live-Cell Imaging

Cells communicate and interact with one another to transmit signals and initiate reactions that facilitate coordinated events. These interactions are critical in almost every aspect of physiology, from transmitting neuronal signals that allow us to sense hot and cold to initiating immune responses that fight against infection. Read article

Stereomicroscopes in the EU’s Plant Inspection: Utilized for Healthy Eating

07. May 2012

Stereomicroscopy

Exotic fruits and sun-kissed vegetables – we have long been accustomed to a huge selection of culinary delicacies that are available fresh in stores on a daily basis. Sometimes, however, these goods flown in from far away carry along unwanted passengers: pests, fungi, or viruses, which cannot be seen with the naked eye. Read article

The Optical Microscope – Some Basics

03. May 2012

Basics in Microscopy

The optical microscope has been a standard tool in life science as well as material science for more than one and a half centuries now. To use this tool economically and effectively, it helps a lot to understand the basics of optics, especially of those essential components which are part of every microscope. Read article

STED Super-Resolution Microscopy - Principles and Photophysics

02. May 2012

Super-Resolution

This tutorial focusses on the principles of STED super-resolution microscopy. The underlying photo physical processes are explained - e.g. with the help of a Jablonski diagram - and the integration into a confocal laser scanning microscope. Read article

Controlling the TIRF Penetration Depth is Mandatory for Reproducible Results

25. Apr 2012

TIRF Microscopy

The main feature of total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy is the employment of an evanescent wave for the excitation of fluorophores instead of using direct light. A property of the evanescent wave, which arises from the glass/water or glass/specimen interface, is that its propagation in z-direction gradually degrades, limiting its penetration depth into the specimen to some hundred nanometers. Read article

Four Paintings Magnified – Tracing Bosch and Bruegel

23. Apr 2012

Conservation

Through a period of two years an international research team has studied four almost identical paintings from the 16th century. The four paintings examined are alike yet different variations on a theme – Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple and were made with different purposes, answering to the demands of a booming 16th-century Antwerp art market. Read article

Order versus Disorder: In vivo Bone Formation within Osteoconductive Scaffolds

20. Apr 2012

Confocal Microscopy

In modern biomaterial design the generation of an environment mimicking some of the extracellular matrix features is envisaged to support molecular cross-talk between cells and scaffolds during tissue formation/remodeling. In bone substitutes chemical biomimesis has been particularly exploited; conversely, the relevance of pre-determined scaffold architecture for regenerated bone outputs is still unclear. Read article

Quantitative Fluorescence – an Overview

19. Apr 2012

Quantitative Fluorescence

Seeing is believing – and measuring is knowing. Microscopes generate images that are not only used for illustration, but are also subject to quantification. More advanced techniques use illumination patterns (without image formation) or do not generate an image at all – but are still microscopical techniques. These F-techniques are becoming increasingly important in current biosciences. Read article

Scientific Illustration and Animation for Research Scientists

16. Apr 2012

Basics in Microscopy

One of the crucial tasks of a research scientist is reporting and communicating about his work. This is vital for cutting edge research; it is crucial to gain insights from other experts, to get a discussion going, to improve, to be able to get some funding, to convince other colleagues that your research is good. Imagine that communication is not there. Then you will immediately appreciate its importance. There would be a lot of individuals all having a single piece of the puzzle in their hands, but nobody seeing the complete picture. Read article

Basic Principles of Luminescence

10. Apr 2012

Fluorescence Microscopy

There are a lot of light-emitting processes occurring in nature. Luminescence is an umbrella term for those kinds of events where light emission is not the result of high temperatures. This article depicts the different forms of luminescences and goes into detail in the case of fluorescence. Relevant technical terms describing a fluorochrome, like quenching, bleaching or quantum yield, are explained in the second part of the article to give detailed insights into basic characteristics of fluorescent molecules. Read article

Fluorescent Proteins – Introduction and Photo Spectral Characteristics

10. Apr 2012

Fluorescence Microscopy

The prospects of fluorescence microscopy changed dramatically with the discovery of fluorescent proteins in the 1950s. The starting point was the detection of the jellyfish Aequorea victoria green fluorescent protein (GFP) by Osamo Shimomura. Hundreds of GFP mutants later, the range of fluorescent proteins reaches from the blue to the red spectrum. Read article