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.

Spherulitic crystals of hippuric acid, which were imaged with a Leica microscope using crossed polarizers, showing so-called Maltese crosses.

A Guide to Polarized Light Microscopy

Polarized light microscopy (POL) enhances contrast in birefringent materials and is used in geology, biology, and materials science to study minerals, crystals, fibers, and plant cell walls.

Leitz Laborlux: Tartaric acids, polarization contrast

The Polarization Microscopy Principle

Polarization microscopy is routinely used in the material and earth sciences to identify materials and minerals on the basis of their characteristic refractive properties and colors. In biology,…

Cell DIVE image of stromal remodeling around B cell follicles of follicular lymphoma patients. Stromal cells labeled with antibodies against desmin (red), SPARC (orange), vimentin (blue), and a-sma (yellow). Extracellular matrix labeled with antibody against lumican (cyan). B cells labeled with antibody against CD20 (green). Image credit: Dr. Andrea Radtke, Center for Advanced Tissue Imaging, NIAID, NIH

Empowering Spatial Biology with Open Multiplexing and Cell DIVE

Spatial biology and multiplexed imaging workflows have become important in immuno-oncology research. Many researchers struggle with study efficiency, even with effective tools and protocols. Here, we…

Super-Resolution Microscopy Image Gallery

Due to the diffraction limit of light, traditional confocal microscopy cannot resolve structures below ~240 nm. Super-resolution microscopy techniques, such as STED, PALM or STORM or some…

Spirogyra algae (Conjugation), Transmitted Light Differential Interference Contrast.

Differential Interference Contrast (DIC) Microscopy

This article demonstrates how differential interference contrast (DIC) can be actually better than brightfield illumination when using microscopy to image unstained biological specimens.

FluoSync - a Fast & Gentle Method for Unmixing Multicolor Images

In this white paper, we focus on a fast and reliable method for obtaining high-quality multiplex images in fluorescence microscopy. FluoSync combines an existing method for hybrid unmixing with…

Multi-Color Caspase 3/7 Assays with Mica

Caspases are involved in apoptosis and can be utilized to determine if cells are undergoing this programmed cell death pathway in so-called caspase assays. These assays can be run by e.g. flow…

Image: Adult rat brain. Neurons (Alexa Fluor488, green), Astrocytes (GFAP, red), Nuclei (DAPI, blue). Image courtesy of Prof. En Xu, Institute of Neurosciences and Department of Neurology of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, China.

Multicolor Microscopy: The Importance of Multiplexing

The term multiplexing refers to the use of multiple fluorescent dyes to examine various elements within a sample. Multiplexing allows related components and processes to be observed in parallel,…

A New Method for Convenient and Efficient Multicolor Imaging

The technique combining hyperspectral unmixing and phasor analysis was developed to simplify the process of getting images from a sample labeled with multiple fluorophores. This aggregate method…