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.

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: grinding and polishing of the chip cross section.

Cross-section Analysis for Electronics Manufacturing

This article describes cross-section analysis for electronics concerning quality control and failure analysis of printed circuit boards (PCBs) and assemblies (PCBAs), integrated circuits (ICs), etc.

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…

EBSD grain size distribution of the cross section of a gold wire within a silicon matrix from inside a CPU (central processing unit of a computer). The grains are highlighted with arbitrary colors.

High-Quality EBSD Sample Preparation

This article describes a method for EBSD sample preparation of challenging materials. The high-quality samples required for electron backscatter diffraction are prepared with broad ion-beam milling.

How to Prepare and Analyse Battery Samples with Electron Microscopy

This workshop covers the sample preparation process for lithium and novel battery sample analysis, as well as other semiconductor samples requiring high-resolution cross-section imaging.

Microscope image of cultured cells at the bottom of a dish.

How to do a Proper Cell Culture Quick Check

In order to successfully work with mammalian cell lines, they must be grown under controlled conditions and require their own specific growth medium. In addition, to guarantee consistency their growth…

Image of murine-brain tissue showing a region removed with UV laser microdissection.

RNA Quality after Different Tissue Sample Preparation

The influence of sample preparation and ultraviolet (UV) laser microdissection (UV LMD) on the quality of RNA from murine-brain tissue cryo-sections is described in this article. To obtain good…