Techniques
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Apodized phase contrast
viewing images with large phase difference with high clarity and detail without 'halo' effects -
Brightfield
light from the specimen and its surroundings is collected to form an image against a bright background -
CLEM
designed to minimize the light required for excitation in fluorescence microscopy without compromising image quality -
Darkfield
contrast technique where only light diffracted from the specimen is used to form the image -
FLIP
a single region of the cell is bleached continuously to assess the direction of intracellular trafficking -
Fluorescence
the property of absorbing light of short wavelength and emitting light of longer wavelength -
FRAP
fluorophores in a selected region of the cell are bleached using laser light to make them inactive -
FRET
permits investigation of molecular interactions beyond the theoretical resolution limit of optical microscopy -
Micromanipulation
manipulation of microscopic specimens using micro-sized equipment such as optical tweezers -
OCC
light projected at the specimen from a sideways, slanting angle to reveal features with higher contrast -
PA-GFP
a form of GFP in which fluorescent intensity can be increased 100 fold after activation with 400nm light -
Patch Clamp
Electrophysiology, measuring electrical current passing through single membrane channels in cells -
Phase contrast
Using changes in refractive index to produce high-contrast images of transparent specimens -
Polarizing
Exploiting the properties of polarized light to identify and characterize the structure and properties of materials -
SIM
Increases resolution by exploiting interference patterns created when two grids are overlaid at an angle -
TIRF
Technique that utilizes total internal reflection of the incident light to generate a thin volume of excitation light at the reflection interface.