Three-dimensional chromatin distribution in neuroblastoma nuclei shown by confocal scanning laser microscopy

The relationship between cell shape and function has long been of interest. However, although the behaviour of the cytoskeleton during the cell cycle has been studied extensively variations in the shape and three-dimensional substructure of the nucleus are less well documented. The spatial distribution of chromatin has previously been studied by a mathematical analysis of the optical densities of stained nuclei, allowing an indirect derivation of the three-dimensional distribution of chromatin. More direct information on chromatin organization can be obtained from electron-microscopic serial sections, although this is very laborious. Using an iterative deconvolution algorithm, Agard and Sedat achieved a degree of optical sectioning in conventional fluorescence microscopy and reconstructed the three-dimensional arrangement of polytene chromosomes. We report here on the three-dimensional structure of cultured mammalian cells as visualized by confocal scanning laser microscopy (CSLM). The exceptionally short depth of field of this imaging technique provides direct optical sectioning which, together with its higher resolution, makes CSLM extremely useful for studying the three-dimensional morphology of biological structures.     

An international optical microscopy event-“Focus on Microscopy 2010”

The Focus on Microscopy 2010 (FOM 2010) was held in Shanghai, China from March 28th to March 31st, 2010. It included the 23rd In-ternational Conference on 3D Image Processing in Microscopy, and the 22nd International Conference on Confocal Microscopy. Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and the University of Amsterdam were the organizing sponsor universities of the conference. The honorary chairs of the conference were Prof. Bingkun Zhou (Tsinghua University) and Prof. Jie Zhang (Shanghai Jiao Tong University). The conference chairs were Prof. Qiushi Ren (Peking University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University) and Prof. G. J. Brakenhoff (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands). More than 350 people attended the symposium. Over 200 of the participants were international guests, while 150 were from China. In total, 31 companies participated in the exhibition, generously sponsoring various activities. Carl Zeiss MicroImaging was the main sponsor of the conference this year......