Science Lab

The knowledge portal of Leica Microsystems offers scientific research and teaching material on the subjects of microscopy. The content is designed to support 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!

Ultrastructural Preservation and Improved Visualization of Membranes in Primary Bovine Chromaffin Cells

Intracellular dynamic events, such as protein trafficking, recycling, and degradation as well as signal transduction, to name a few, can be studied using live-cell imaging techniques. However,…

Introduction to Ultramicrotomy

When studying samples, to visualize their fine structure with nanometer scale resolution, most often electron microscopy is used. There are 2 types: scanning electron microscopy (SEM) which images the…

Bridging Structure and Dynamics at the Nanoscale through Optogenetics and Electrical Stimulation

Nanoscale ultrastructural information is typically obtained by means of static imaging of a fixed and processed specimen. However, this is only a snapshot of one moment within a dynamic system in…

Superior Ultrastructural Preservation and Structural Contrast in Drosophila Tissue

Optimal structural preservation of tissue can only be obtained by high pressure freezing. However, preparing the samples in optimal conditions is challenging. This article explains in detail how to…

Cryo-Electron Microscopy of Vitreous Sections (CEMOVIS) of Yeast

Application Note for Leica EM HPM100 - The sections are of yeast frozen with a Leica HPM100 high pressure freezer in the copper tube system, the cell paste was mixed with a pH 6.5 MES/dextran buffer…

Perusing Alternatives for Automated Staining of TEM Thin Sections

Contrast in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is mainly produced by electron scattering at the specimen: Structures that strongly scatter electrons are referred to as electron dense and appear as…

Atomic Force Microscopy Study of a Stretched Impact Copolymer

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a powerful tool in the suite of nanoscale characterization techniques that provides a variety of information including topography, mechanical properties, and…