Hobart

Seminar abstract

Wednesday 18 October 2006, 11.30 am (Tas time)
CSIRO Auditorium, Hobart

Maria Luz Paje, PhD
Confocal Applications Scientist
Olympus Australia

Confocal microscopy and its applications

Confocal microscopy has become one of the powerful tools in both life and material sciences.

The confocal microscope is basically a fluorescence microscope but utilizes lasers as the source of light and has a pinhole that can eliminate out of focus light. The image is detected by photomultiplier tubes and is then processed by a computer. Because out of focus light is eliminated, each acquisition is a focal point, hence a series of images can be obtained and then reconstructed in a 3-Dimensional state. Simultaneous and sequential multiple color imaging as well as time lapse events are the other key features of a confocal microscope.

Advances in fluorescence technology with the advent of new fluorophores, especially those used in live cell work, have resulted in additional features of the confocal microscopes. Fast scanning systems are employed to capture live cell events such as protein trafficking, Förster resonance energy transefer (FRET) and cell movements such as diffusion, migration and cell division. The confocal microscope can also act as a spectrophotometer as spectral separation can be done to distinguish between dyes that emit at very close wavelengths. Spectral detection is also used to characterize new fluorophores or fluorescent proteins.

Both live and fixed specimens can be imaged in a confocal microscope but increasing applications towards live cell imaging are being developed. Among these applications are embryo studies, protein dynamics, single molecule detection and ratiometric calcium imaging. In addition, techniques such as photoactivation and uncaging have also become essential tools in identifying protein locations and interactions. With such diverse applications, the confocal microscope is fast becoming a routine instrument in many life sciences laboratories and in some cases even used as tools in diagnostics.

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Location:
CSIRO = Marine Laboratories Auditorium, Castray Esplanade, Hobart

For further information, or to schedule a seminar, contact:
To schedule a seminar, contact:
Karen Wild-Allen, (Oceanographic seminars) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (03) 6232 5010
Piers Dunstan, (Biological seminars) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
(03) 6232 5382
Annabel Ozimec (seminar administrator) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (03) 6232 5462
Sandra Zicus, Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC (03) 6226 7888
Margaret Hazelwood, Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies (IASOS) University of Tasmania (03) 6226 2971

Last updated 17/10/06