Applications Of Fluorescence Microscopy In Three Dimensions/Microtomoscopy

A confocal scanning laser microscope (CSLM) has been constructed at the EMBL1 and is applied in the investigation of fixed and of living specimens. Contrary to the conventional microscope the CSLM focuses the light emitted by a point source into an object and detects only the light emitted from a small volume in this object. When operated in either fluorescence or reflection mode the CSLM has a true resolution along the optical axis. This feature is used to record independent images at different levels of height in a fluorescently labelled object or to scan the object in a plane parallel to the optical axis.