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.

Handbook of Optical Filters for Fluorescence Microscopy

Fluorescence microscopy and other light-based applications require optical filters that have demanding spectral and physical characteristics. Often, these characteristics are application-specific and…

Carbon Thickness Evaluation in Electron Microscopy

The coating layers applied and used for electron microscopy imaging are commonly controlled and measured by quartz crystals. These crystals oscillate with a certain frequency (around 6 megahertz when…

Spectral Detection – How to Define the Spectral Bands that Collect Probe-specific Emission

To specifically collect emission from multiple probes, the light is first separated spatially and then passes through a device that defines a spectral band. Classically, this is a common glass-based…

Structural details of the C. elegans, head in cross-section. Courtesy of Müller-Reichert T, MPI-CBG, Dresden, Germany, and McDonald K, University of California, Berkeley, USA.

Brief Introduction to High-Pressure Freezing

Water is the most abundant cellular constituent and therefore important for preserving cellular ultra-structure. Currently the only way to fix cellular constituents without introducing significant…

Step by Step Guide for FRAP Experiments

Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP) has been considered the most widely applied method for observing translational diffusion processes of macromolecules. The resulting information can be…

Widefield Calcium Imaging with Calcium Indicator Fura2

In eukaryotic cells Ca2+ is one of the most widespread second messengers used in signal transduction pathways. Intracellular levels of Ca2+ are usually kept low, as Ca2+ often forms insoluble…

Brief Introduction to Critical Point Drying

One of the uses of the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) is in the study of surface morphology in biological applications which requires the preservation of the surface details of a specimen. Samples…

Nobel Prize 2012 in Physiology or Medicine for Stem Cell Research

The Nobel Prize recognizes two scientists who discovered that mature, specialised cells can be reprogrammed to become immature cells capable of developing into all tissues of the body. Their findings…

Video Tutorial: How to Align the Bulb of a Fluorescence Lamp Housing

The traditional light source for fluorescence excitation is a fluorescence lamp housing with mercury burner. A prerequisite for achieving bright and homogeneous excitation is the correct centering and…