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.

TEM micrographs of polymer sections. Left: Poly(styrene)-b-poly(isoprene). Right: Poly(styrene)-b-poly(methyl methacrylate).

Ultramicrotome Sectioning of Polymers for TEM Analysis

We demonstrate the capabilities of the UC Enuity ultramicrotome from Leica Microsystems for preparing ultrathin sections of polymer samples under both ambient and cryogenic conditions. By presenting…

Final Segmentation of organelles in Trichomonas species. Magenta – costa, light blue – hydrogenosomes, turquoise – ER, red – vacuoles, yellow – axostyle, green – Golgi apparatus. Sample courtesy of Isabelle Guerin-Bonne, Low Kay En, Electron Microscopy Unit, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. Scale bar: 1 µm.

Volume EM and AI Image Analysis

The article outlines a detailed workflow for studying biological tissues in three dimensions using volume-scanning electron microscopy (volume-SEM) combined with AI-assisted image analysis. The focus…

Trichomonas parasite in mouse gut, rOTO Embedding and serial sections for array tomography imaging. Sample courtesy Isabelle Guerin-Bonne, Low Kay En, Electron Microscopy Unit, Yong loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore

Integrated Serial Sectioning and Cryo-EM Workflows for 3D Biological Imaging

This on-demand webinar explores how integrated tools can support electron microscopy workflows from sample preparation to image analysis. Experts Andreia Pinto, Adrian Boey, and Hoyin Lai present the…

C. elegans embedded in Lowicryl® HM20; pharynx showing red fluorescence (mCherry). The overview shows a front view onto the resin capsule formed by the bottom of a flow-through chamber of the EM AFS2. The capsule was pretrimmed manually. The blockface was trimmed automatically using the AutoTrim function of UC Enuity guided by fluorescence of the worm. Edge length of both squares in relation to the images is 250 µm.

How Fluorescence Guides Sectioning of Resin-embedded EM Samples

Electron microscopes, including transmission electron microscopes (TEM) and scanning electron microscopes (SEM), are widely utilized to gain detailed structural information about biological samples or…

C. elegans nematode embedded in Epon epoxy resin, contrasted with osmium tetroxide. The resin block was pretrimmed by hand. Scale bar: 500 µm.

How to Save Time and Samples by Automated Ultramicrotomy

This article describes how 3D micro-CT data of a resin-embedded electron microscopy sample can be used to trim the specimen down to a defined target plane prior to sectioning. The interactive and…

Essential Guide 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…

Multicolor TauSTED Xtend 775 for Cell Biology applications that require nanoscopy resolution for multiple cellular components. Cells showing vimentin fibrils (AF 594), actin network (ATTO 647N), and nuclear pore basket (CF 680R). Sample courtesy of Brigitte Bergner, Mariano Gonzales Pisfil, Steffen Dietzel, Core Facility Bioimaging, Biomedical Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.

The Guide to STED Sample Preparation

This guide is intended to help users optimize sample preparation for stimulated emission depletion (STED) nanoscopy, specifically when using the STED microscope from Leica Microsystems. It gives an…

Preparation of an IC-chip cross section require cutting of the chip followed by grinding and polishing of the cross section.

Quality Control via Cross Sections of PCBs, PCBAs, ICs, and Batteries

Why cross sections of printed circuit boards (PCBs) and assemblies (PCBAs), integrated circuits (ICs), and battery components are useful for quality control (QC), failure analysis (FA), and research…

Material sample with a large height, size, and weight being observed with an inverted microscope.

Five Inverted-Microscope Advantages for Industrial Applications

With inverted microscopes, you look at samples from below since their optics are placed under the sample, with upright microscopes you look at samples from above. Traditionally, inverted microscopes…

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