Leica Microsystems
Leica Microsystems is a world leader in microscopes and scientific instruments. Founded as a family business in the nineteenth century, the company’s history was marked by unparalleled innovation on its way to becoming a global enterprise.
Its historically close cooperation with the scientific community is the key to Leica Microsystems’ tradition of innovation, which draws on users’ ideas and creates solutions tailored to their requirements. At the global level, Leica Microsystems is organized in three divisions, all of which are among the leaders in their respective fields: Life Science, Industry and Medical.
The company is represented in over 100 countries with 6 manufacturing facilities in 5 countries, sales and service organizations in 20 countries, and an international network of dealers. The company is headquartered in Wetzlar, Germany.
A Brief History of Light Microscopy
The history of microscopy begins in the Middle Ages. As far back as the 11th century, plano-convex lenses made of polished beryl were used in the Arab world as reading stones to magnify manuscripts.…
From Light to Mind: Sensors and Measuring Techniques in Confocal Microscopy
This article outlines the most important sensors used in confocal microscopy. By confocal microscopy, we mean "True Confocal Scanning", i.e. the technique that illuminates and measures one single…
Video: The White Light Laser – How to Effectively Excite Multiple Fluorophores with a Single Light Source
The Leica White Light Laser produces a continuous spectral output between the wavelengths of 470 and 670 nm. It allows you to select 8 excitation lines from 3 trillion unique combinations for…
Workflows & Protocols: How to Use a Leica Laser Microdissection System and Qiagen Kits for Successful RNA Analysis
Laser Microdissection (LMD) allows isolating individual cells or chromosomes and is a well established technique for sample preparation prior downstream analysis of the nucleic acid content via PCR or…
What You Always Wanted to Know About Digital Microscopy, but Never Got Around to Asking
Digital microscopy is one of the buzz words in microscopy – and there are a couple of facts that are useful to know. Georg Schlaffer, Product Manager with Leica Microsystems, has often been asked…
Confocal and Light Sheet Imaging
Optical imaging instrumentation can magnify tiny objects, zoom in on distant stars and reveal details that are invisible to the naked eye. But it notoriously suffers from an annoying problem: the…
Universal PAINT – Dynamic Super-Resolution Microscopy
Super-resolution microscopy techniques have revolutionized biology for the last ten years. With their help cellular components can now be visualized at the size of a protein. Nevertheless, imaging…
Nanoscale or Microscale Structures Formed in Polymers Containing Nanotubes Greatly Enhance the Electrical Conductivity
The excellent mechanical and electrical properties of carbon nanotubes have led to them being exploited for the creation of a new class of high performance polymer composites. Due to important…
Video Tutorials: Filling and Assembling of Different Carriers for High-Pressure Freezing
High pressure freezing (HPF) is a cryo-fixation method primarily for biological samples, but also for a variety of non-biological materials. It is a technique that yields optimal preservation in many…
FusionOptics in Neurosurgery and Ophthalmology – for a Larger 3D Area in Focus
Neurosurgeons and ophthalmologists deal with delicate structures, deep or narow cavities and tiny structures with vitally important functions. A clear, three-dimensional view on the surgical field is…
Brief Introduction to Freeze Fracture and Etching
Freeze fracture describes the technique of breaking a frozen specimen to reveal internal structures. Freeze etching is the sublimation of surface ice under vacuum to reveal details of the fractured…
Brief Introduction to Specimen Trimming
Before ultrathin sectioning a sample with an ultramicrotome it has to be pre-prepared. For this pre-preparation, special attention must be paid to the sample size (size of the section), location of…
125 Years of Comparison Microscopy
To be able to optically compare two objects with scientific accuracy, it must be possible to view them at the same time. This is particularly true for comparing small objects that can only be…
Sample Preparation for GSDIM Localization Microscopy – Protocols and Tips
The widefield super-resolution technique GSDIM (Ground State Depletion followed by individual molecule return) is a localization microscopy technique that is capable of resolving details as small as…
Acousto Optics in True Confocal Spectral Microscope Systems
Acousto-optical elements have successfully replaced planar filters in many positions. The white confocal, regarded as the fully spectrally tunable confocal microscope, was not possible without this…
Nobel Prize 2013 in Physiology or Medicine for Discoveries of the Machinery Regulating Vesicle Traffic
On October 7th 2013, The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has decided to award The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012 jointly to James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman and Thomas C. Südhof…
Thermodynamic Considerations Regarding the LN2 in a High Pressure Freezer
Employing liquid nitrogen (LN2) as a coolant in the complex process of high pressure freezing raises certain considerations regarding phase transition not only of the liquid sample to be frozen but…
Brief Introduction to Contrasting for EM Sample Preparation
Since the contrast in the electron microscope depends primarily on the differences in the electron density of the organic molecules in the cell, the efficiency of a stain is determined by the atomic…