Laser Microdissection Microscopes Leica LMD6 & LMD7

We Move the Laser, not the Sample

Try writing your name on a piece of paper by moving the paper instead of the pen. Hard to do? That’s why we move the laser, not the sample for laser microdissection.

Only Leica Microsystems uses high-precision optics to steer the laser beam along the desired cut line on the tissue with prisms. That means that the Leica LMD cuts perpendicularly to the tissue and leaves clean cuts of contamination-free isolates.

Precision. Always.

• Cut with highest possible precision and speed
• Cut directly, real-time with "Move and Cut"

Laser Adjustment for your Sample

The LMD7's power, aperture, speed, head current, and pulse frequency settings are tunable to the needs of your sample. For example, thick plant sections require high power, while cutting around fragile neurons will require less power. Thin sections can typically use faster cuts than thick sections.

Advanced cutting modes add enhanced precision to how you will dissect your sample. For example you can draw first and cut afterwards (Draw + Cut), or cut in real-time by mouse click or with a PEN screen (Move + Cut). The Draw + Scan mode is made for ablation from glass, whereas the Laser Screw cuts thick specimen in consecutive rounds. The Final Pulse mode enables you to kick demanding dissectates into the collection vessel. 

Consumables

Leica Microsystems offers different slide options for laser microdissection.

• Use any kind of membrane slides for genomics and transcriptomics
• Use PET slides for certain applications in proteomics and metabolomics because PET is almost free of softeners.
• Choose DIRECTOR slides to work completely membrane free

Read how to choose the adequate consumable in our Science Lab article.

Since the Leica LMD systems collect dissectates simply by gravity, you can use standard devices for their collection. Just use common molecular biology reaction devices such as 0.2 or 0.5 ml tube caps – which you already have in your lab. Collection devices can be dry or filled with reaction buffer or culture media for the LMD application.

High-Throughput Capability

Need more throughput? The LMD systems can be configured with different kinds of stages. The LMT350 ultra scanning stage provides the fastest, most silent and most precise navigation among them.

The LMT350 is capable of holding collector vessels starting from 0.2 ml tube caps, through 8 and 12 cap-strips up to standard 96-well and 386-well plates*. This enables you to do high-throughput experiments.

Because you don’t need any special material but use regular microtiter plates, these plates can be loaded directly into standard PCR machines.

*max.352 wells addressable

Success is Objective

LMD objectives are designed for the task of enabling flexible laser settings for unique applications. Leica's development and manufacturing of optics has been among of our core competencies from the start in the 19th century, so you can rely on the performance of our dedicated LMD objectives.

• Choose from a range of dry objectives – from 2.5x to 150x
• Use the 150x SmartCut objective to go into detail with high magnification when required
• Get a large field of view to cut large parts of samples in one piece with low-magnification objectives
• Benefit from objectives with the highest possible transmission of laser light at 350 nm to cut tissue, bones, teeth, brain, plants, chromosomes and living cells – try them for your application!

The outstanding imaging performance our objectives provide goes without saying.