Science Lab

Learn. Share. Contribute. The knowledge portal of Leica Microsystems. Find scientific research and teaching material on the subject of microscopy. The portal supports beginners, experienced practitioners and scientists alike in their everyday work and experiments. Explore interactive tutorials and application notes, discover the basics of microscopy as well as high-end technologies. Become part of the Science Lab community and share your expertise.

Left-hand image: The distribution of immune cells (white) and blood vessels (pink) in white adipose tissue (image captured using the THUNDER Imager 3D Cell Culture). Right-hand image: The same image after automated analysis using Aivia, with each immune cell color-coded based on its distance to the nearest blood vessel. Image courtesy of Dr. Selina Keppler, Munich, Germany.

How to Remove Out-Of-Focus Blur and Improve Segmentation Accuracy

The specificity of fluorescence microscopy allows researchers to accurately observe and analyze biological processes and structures quickly and easily, even when using thick or large samples. However,…

Optimizing THUNDER Platform for High-Content Slide Scanning

With rising demand for full-tissue imaging and the need for FL signal quantitation in diverse biological specimens, the limits on HC imaging technology are tested, while user trainability and…

C. elegans Gonades - THUNDER Imager Adult hermaphrodit, Staining: blue - DAPI (Nucleus), green - SP56 (sperms), red - RME-2 (oocyte), mangenta - PGL-1 (RNA + protein granules) Image courtesy of Prof. Dr. Christian Eckmann, Martin Luther University, Halle, Germany

Physiology Image Gallery

Physiology is about the processes and functions within a living organism. Research in physiology focuses on the activities and functions of an organism’s organs, tissues, or cells, including the…

Virally labeled neurons (red) and astrocytes (green) in a cortical spheroid derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells. THUNDER Model Organism Imagerwith a 2x 0.15 NA objective at 3.4x zoomwas used to produce this 425 μm Z-stack (26 positions), which is presented here as an Extended Depth of Field(EDoF)projection.

Neuroscience Images

Neuroscience commonly uses microscopy to study the nervous system’s function and understand neurodegenerative diseases.

A Guide to Darkfield Microscopes

A darkfield microscope offers a way to view the structures of many types of biological specimens in greater contrast without the need of stains.

Pollen Flower - Taken with a 20x/0.8 objective, area of 6mm² with a depth of 100μm. 15 stitched tiles with 4 colors (DAPI/GFP/TRITC/Cy5) - a total of 13020 images. Video courtesy of James Marr, Leica Microsystems, USA

Developmental Biology Image Gallery

Developmental biology explores the development of complex organisms from the embryo to adulthood to understand in detail the origins of disease. This category of the gallery shows images about…

Mouse kidney section with Alexa Fluor™ 488 WGA, Alexa Fluor™ 568 Phalloidin, and DAPI. Sample is a FluoCells™ prepared slide #3 from Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA. Images courtesy of Dr. Reyna Martinez – De Luna, Upstate Medical University, Department of Ophthalmology.

The Power of Pairing Adaptive Deconvolution with Computational Clearing

Learn how deconvolution allows you to overcome losses in image resolution and contrast in widefield fluorescence microscopy due to the wave nature of light and the diffraction of light by optical…

Mouse lymphnode acquired with a THUNDER Imager 3D Cell Culture. Image courtesy of Dr. Selina Keppler, Munich, Germany.

Image Gallery: THUNDER Imager

To help you answer important scientific questions, THUNDER Imagers eliminate the out-of-focus blur that clouds the view of thick samples when using camera-based fluorescence microscopes. They achieve…

A Guide to Model Organisms in Research

A model organism is a species used by researchers to study specific biological processes. They have similar genetic characteristics to humans and are commonly used in research areas such as genetics,…