Lighting up tiny details!
In both research and in the clinic, microscopes have become an indispensable tool. A microscope can be used to visualize structures that are too tiny to see with just your eyes. Doctors, for instance, use microscopes to look at small pieces of tissue from patients to determine the right diagnosis and treatment. In research, many different microscopes are used, a stereo microscope, like seen here, but also fluorescence microscopes that use several lasers to light up tissue.
A colorful and important picture
When tissue samples are mixed with fluorescent labels that bind to specific structures or cell types, fluorescent microscopes can be used to generate a colourful and very detailed picture of what the tissue looks like. This fluorescent imaging is widely used in cancer research and has brought critical insight into the tumor’s makeup and which specific components to target for treatment.
