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.

Mastering Polymer Sectioning with Helmut Gnaegi

When it comes to ultramicrotomy, few names carry the weight of Helmut Gnaegi. As co-founder of Diatome, a global leader in diamond knife technology, Helmut has spent decades refining the art and…

Projection of a confocal z-stack. Sum159 cells, human breast cancer cells kindly provided by Ievgeniia Zagoriy, Mahamid Group, EMBL Heidelberg, Germany. Blue–Hoechst - indicates nuclei, Green–MitoTracker mitochondria, and red–Bodipy - lipid droplets

New Imaging Tools for Cryo-Light Microscopy

New cryo-light microscopy techniques like LIGHTNING and TauSense fluorescence lifetime-based tools reveal structures for cryo-electron microscopy.

Correlation of markers in the LM and the FIB image.

How to Target Fluorescent Structures in 3D for Cryo-FIB Milling

This article describes the major steps of the cryo-electron tomography workflow including super-resolution cryo-confocal microscopy. We describe how subcellular structures can be precisely located in…

A Guide to Cryo-Electron Tomography

Cryo-electron tomography (CryoET) is used to resolve biomolecules within their cellular environment down to an unprecedented resolution below one nanometer.

Advancing Cellular Ultrastructure Research

Freeze-fracture and freeze-etching are useful tools for studying flexible membrane-associated structures such as tight junctions or the enteric glycocalyx. Freeze-fracture and etching are two…

The Cryo-CLEM Journey

This article describes the Cryo-CLEM technology and the benefits it can provide for scientists. Additionally, some scientific publications are highlighted. Recent developments in cryo electron…

Cryo FIB lamella - Overlay of SEM and confocal fluorescence image. Target structure in yeast cells (nuclear pore proteine Nup159-Atg8-split Venus, red) marked by an arrow. Scale bar: 5 µm. Alegretti et al., Nature 586, 796-800 (2020).

Targeting Active Recycling Nuclear Pore Complexes using Cryo Confocal Microscopy

In this article, how cryo light microscopy and, in particular cryo confocal microscopy, is used to improve the reliability of cryo EM workflows is described. The quality of the EM grids and samples is…

Studying the Microstructure of Natural Polymers in Fine Detail

The potential of cryogenic broad ion beam milling used in combination with scanning electron microscopy (cryo-BIB-SEM) for imaging and analyzing the microstructure of cryogenically stabilized soft…

Expert Knowledge on High Pressure Freezing and Freeze Fracturing in the Cryo SEM Workflow

Get an insight in the working methods of the laboratory and learn about the advantages of Cryo SEM investigation in EM Sample Preparation. Find out how high pressure freezing, freeze fracturing and…