Learn & Share: Widefield Microscopy?
Widefield microscopy refers to a basic sample illumination principle in microscopy. Since widefield microscopy permanently illuminates the whole sample, it can be distinguished from confocal microscopy where only one single focal spot is illuminated and recorded at a time. Typically, widefield microscopy utilizes light sources such as halogen, metal halide lamps or LED for sample illumination. Detection is performed through oculars or with the help of a digital camera. Several contrast methods increase widefield microscopy capabilities, starting from Phase Contrast through to Differential Interference Contrast (DIC) or fluorescence, to name but a few. Computer based deconvolution can be applied to increase widefield fluorescence image quality and enable 3D image reconstruction. Moreover, TIRF and GSDIM super-resolution microscopy can be assigned to widefield microscopy.
Finding new Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering
Tissue engineers use biomaterials for a variety of applications from drug delivery to supporting the regeneration of damaged or lost tissues to creating in vitro disease models. Scaffold architecture…Read article
The Power of Pairing Adaptive Deconvolution with Computational Clearing
Deconvolution is a computational method used to restore the image of the object that is corrupted by the point spread function (PSF) along with sources of noise. In this technical brief, learn how the…Read article
Improvement of Imaging Techniques to Understand Organelle Membrane Cell Dynamics
Understanding cell functions in normal and tumorous tissue is a key factor in advancing research of potential treatment strategies and understanding why some treatments might fail. Single-cell…Read article
Plant Cell Development and Morphogenesis
The article discusses how tubulin molecules, which make up microtubules, in plant cells can be studied with total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy to better understand tubulin…Read article
Studying Pulmonary Fibrosis
The results shown in this article demonstrate that fibrotic and non-fibrotic regions of collagen present in mouse lung tissue can be distinguished better with polarized light compared to brightfield.…Read article
Studying Autoimmune Disease
This article discusses how autoimmune diseases, like systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), can be studied more efficiently using thick, 3D kidney tissue specimens visualized with a THUNDER Imager . SLE…Read article
Image Gallery: THUNDER Imager
To help you answer important scientific questions, THUNDER Imagers eliminate the out-of-focus blur that clouds the view of thick samples when using camera-based fluorescence microscopes. They achieve…Read article
From Organs to Tissues to Cells: Analyzing 3D Specimens with Widefield Microscopy
Obtaining high-quality data and images from thick 3D samples is challenging using traditional widefield microscopy because of the contribution of out-of-focus light. In this webinar, Falco Krüger…Read article
Studying Human Brain Development and Disease
Neural spheroids created from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) provide effective and novel tools for studying brain development, as well as the underlying pathological mechanisms of…Read article
An Introduction to Computational Clearing
Many software packages include background subtraction algorithms to enhance the contrast of features in the image by reducing background noise. The most common methods used to remove background noise…Read article
Factors to Consider When Selecting a Research Microscope
An optical microscope is often one of the central devices in a life-science research lab. It can be used for various applications which shed light on many scientific questions. Thereby the…Read article
How Can Immunofluorescence Aid Virology Research?
Modern virology research has become as crucial now as ever before due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. There are many powerful technologies and assays that virologists can apply to their research into…Read article
Studying Natural Killer (NK) Cells Derived from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSC)
The study of natural killer (NK) cells holds tremendous promise for developing novel immunotherapies. NK cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can be used to create an easily…Read article
Upright Fluorescence Microscopy for Virus Replication Studies
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in late 2019 and spread over the world quickly. Due to its dramatic impact, researchers are interested in the nature of the…Read article
Getting Sharper 3D Images of Thick Biological Specimens with Widefield Microscopy
Widefield fluorescence microscopy is often used to visualize structures in life science specimens and obtain useful information. With the use of fluorescent proteins or dyes, discrete specimen…Read article
Crystal clear cryo light-microscopy images
This article describes how computational clearing of cryo light microscopy images improves the identification of cellular targets for cryo electron-microscopy.Read article
Microscopy in Virology
The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, causing the Covid-19 disease effects our world in all aspects. Research to find immunization and treatment methods, in other words to fight this virus, gained highest…Read article
IL-18 cytokine derived from the enteric nervous system is important for intestinal immunity
Interleukin 18 (IL-18) is a proinflammatory cytokine, which induces cell-mediated immune reaction upon bacterial infection. In the intestine, it is known that IL-18 is produced in immune and…Read article
Cholesterol Homeostasis Modulates Platinum Sensitivity in Human Ovarian Cancer
Ovarian cancer is one of the most severe types of cancers that women can suffer from during their lifetimes. It is the cancer’s tendency for frequent relapses and drug resistance that leads to…Read article
Computational Clearing - Enhance 3D Specimen Imaging
This webinar is designed to clarify crucial specifications that contribute to THUNDER Imagers' transformative visualization of 3D samples and improvements within a researcher's imaging-related…Read article
THUNDER Imagers: High Performance, Versatility and Ease-of-Use for your Everyday Imaging Workflows
This webinar will showcase the versatility and performance of THUNDER Imagers in many different life science applications: from counting nuclei in retina sections and RNA molecules in cancer tissue…Read article
Evaluating Axon Regeneration After Brain or Spine Trauma of Mice
Damaged nerve regeneration was investigated using mouse spinal cord sections treated with compounds that counter axon growth inhibitor (AGI) proteins. The sections were screened to find active and…Read article
Interview with Magali Mondin on THUNDER Imagers
Magali Mondin, an engineer at the BIC (Bordeaux Imaging Center) in France, describes her experience using a THUNDER Imager in this interview. She had the opportunity to test extensively the THUNDER…Read article
Drosophila Testis Niche Stem Cells – Three Color Computational Clearing
Differentiated living beings such as humans, but also a fruit fly or a plant, possess not only the differentiated cells which form specific tissues, but also those cells whose fate is not yet (or only…Read article
Digital Classroom Options
As teachers, you know your big challenge is to catch and keep the students’ attention and the best chance for this is by making the environment interactive. In the case of the Microscopy Classroom, we…Read article
Alzheimer Plaques: fast Visualization in Thick Sections
More than 60% of all diagnosed cases of dementia are attributed to Alzheimer’s disease. Typical of this disease are histological alterations in the brain tissue. So far, there is no cure for this…Read article
How to Develop an Airway Epithelial Cell Model
The present study describes the optimal growth conditions for the proliferation and differentiation of bovine bronchial epithelial cells (BBECs). The cells are grown at an air-liquid interface (ALI)…Read article
THUNDER Technology Note
So far, widefield microscopy was not suitable to image larger volumes, since the contrast of the recorded fluorescence image is reduced by the background (BG) mainly originating from out of focus…Read article
Proline Metabolism is Essential for Trypanosoma brucei brucei Survival in the Tsetse Vector
Bloodsucking insects play a major role in the transmission of pathogens that cause major tropical diseases. Their capacity to transmit these diseases is directly associated with the availability and…Read article
mTORC1 Promotes Proliferation of Immature Schwann Cells and Myelin Growth of Differentiated Schwann Cells
The myelination of axons is essential for neuronal wiring and normal nervous system functions. In the peripheral nervous system, Schwann cells (SCs) form myelin sheaths around axons during nerve…Read article
Useful Links
Communities and Web Sources
www.researchgate.net/Social network for scientists
www.lsoft.com/scripts/wl.exe?SL1=CONFOCALMICROSCOPY&H=LISTS.UMN.EDUConfocal Microscopy Mailing List, University of Minnesota
www.ibiology.org/Teaching tools, video lectures on biology and microscopy
www.ibiology.org/Teaching tools, video lectures on biology and microscopy
bitesizebio.comOnline magazine and community for molecular and cell biology researchers
www.somersault1824.comResource for high-end scientific illustrations, images and animations
Search Engines and Data Bases
www.cellimagelibrary.orgPublic resource database of images, videos, and animations of cells
harvester.fzk.de/harvesterBioinformatic meta search engine for genes and proteins
www.gopubmed.comSearch interface for pubmed
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_academic_databases_and_search_enginesList of academic databases and search engines
scholar.google.comBeta of Google's search engine for scientific article abstracts
Journals
www.doaj.org/Directory of open access journals
emboj.embopress.org/The EMBO Journal
www.lifescied.orgCBE-Life Sciences Education – an ASCB online journal
www.sciencemag.org/Science
www.nature.com/Nature
www.cell.com/Biweekly publication of exceptional research articles
jcs.biologists.org/Journal of Cell Science
dev.biologists.org/Development
jeb.biologists.org/The Journal of Experimental Biology
dmm.biologists.org/DMM Disease Models & Mechanisms
www.biotechniques.com/International Journal of Life Science Methods
www.opticsinfobase.org/Collection of Journals and Proceedings in Optics and Photonics
spie.org/x576.xmlSPIE - peer-reviewed journals on applied research in optics and photonics
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1864-0648Journal of Biophotonics
www.plosone.org/home.actionInternational, peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication
rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/Proceedings B - the Royal Society's biological research journal
www.microscopy-analysis.com/International Journal for microscopists
Organizations
www.microscopy.org/Microscopy Society of America
www.eurmicsoc.org/European Microscopy Society
www.rms.org.uk/Royal Microscopical Society
www.ascb.org/ASCB American Society of Cell Biology
www.biologists.com/cob_activities.htmlthe company of biologists
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