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Science Lab

Science Lab

Science Lab

The knowledge portal of Leica Microsystems offers scientific research and teaching material on the subjects of microscopy. The content is designed to support 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!
These images show the microstructure of a hard metal with 10% cobalt which is used for heavy-duty tools. The large increase in magnification of the right image (compared to the left) has a risk of being outside the useful range or, in other words, empty magnification.

What is Empty Magnification and How can Users Avoid it

The phenomenon of “empty magnification”, which can occur while using an optical, light, or digital microscope, and how it can be avoided is explained in this article. The performance of an optical…
Developing embryos of different species at different stages during the elongation of their posterior body axis, from left to right in developmental time. The labelled regions in red depict a region of undifferentiated cells called the tailbud, with the corresponding region generated from that tissue shaded in grey. Upper row: lamprey; middle row: catshark; bottom row, zebrafish. This figure has been adapted from the following publication: Steventon, B., Duarte, F., Lagadec, R., Mazan, S., Nicolas, J.-F., & Hirsinger, E. (2016). Species tailoured contribution of volumetric growth and tissue convergence to posterior body elongation in vertebrates. Development, 2016. 143(10):1732-41

How to Study Gene Regulatory Networks in Embryonic Development

Join Dr. Andrea Boni by attending this on-demand webinar to explore how light-sheet microscopy revolutionizes developmental biology. This advanced imaging technique allows for high-speed, volumetric…
Multiplexed Cell DIVE imaging of Adult Human Alzheimer’s brain tissue section demonstrating expression of markers specific to astrocytes (GFAP, S100B), microglia (TMEM119, IBA1), AD-associated markers (p-Tau217, β-amyloid) and immune cells such as CD11b+, CD163+, CD4+, and HLA-DRA+, clustered around the β-amyloid plaques.

Spatial Analysis of Neuroimmune Interactions in Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a complex neurodegenerative disorder characterized by neurofibrillary tangles, β-amyloid plaques, and neuroinflammation. These dysfunctions trigger or are exacerbated by…
Image of a tartaric-acid crystal taken with polarization microscopy. Tartaric acid, a diprotic, aldaric carboxylic acid, is a naturally occurring organic compound notably found in grapes.

The Polarization Microscopy Principle

Polarization microscopy is routinely used in the material and earth sciences to identify materials and minerals on the basis of their characteristic refractive properties and colors. In biology,…

A Guide to Spatial Biology

What is spatial biology, and how can researchers leverage its tools to meet the growing demands of biological questions in the post-omics era? This article provides a brief overview of spatial biology…
Image of a 12-μm thick brain section, which was stained with Toluidin blue, before dissection. It was taken with a microscope using a 63x objective.

An Introduction to Laser Microdissection

The heterogeneity of histological and biological specimens often requires isolation of specific single cells or cell groups from surrounding tissue before molecular biology analysis can be carried…
GLP-1 and PYY localized to distinct secretory pools in L-cells.

Cutting-Edge Imaging Techniques for GPCR Signaling

With this webinar on-demand enhance your pharmacological research with our webinar on GPCR signaling and explore cutting-edge imaging techniques that aim to understand how GPCR signaling translates…
Salmonella biofilms 3D render

Exploring Microbial Worlds: Spatial Interactions in 3D Food Matrices

The Micalis Institute is a joint research unit in collaboration with INRAE, AgroParisTech, and Université Paris-Saclay. Its mission is to develop innovative research in the field of food microbiology…
Mouse brain (left) microdissected with a 10x objective (upper right). Inspection of the collection device (lower right).

Molecular Biology Analysis facilitated with Laser Microdissection (LMD)

Extracting biomolecules, proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and chromosomes, as well as extracting and manipulating cells and tissues with laser microdissection (LMD) enables insights to be gained into…
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