Int. J. Dev. Biol. 53: 1569 - 1579 (2009)

https://doi.org/10.1387/ijdb.072351jr

Vol 53, Issue 8-9-10

Special Issue: Developmental Biology in Hispania (Spain & Portugal)

Frontiers in fluorescence microscopy

Published: 1 November 2009

José Rino*, José Braga, Ricardo Henriques and Maria Carmo-Fonseca

Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

Abstract

How we see organisms and cells depends on the tools at our disposal. For over 150 years, biologists were forced to rely on fixed, dehydrated and stained specimens in order to guess how the living cells could function. It all changed abruptly during the last two decades when the rapid development of novel imaging techniques revolutionized the way scientists look at the structures of life alive.

Keywords

fluorescence, photobleaching, photoactivation, FRET, FLIM