Light microscopy takes advantage of the many colors of light to label a wide variety of biological features and scales. From the smallest scales of individual proteins (for example a strand of RNA), to intermediate scales of biological structures such as nuclei, mitochondria, and cellular shapes up to the largest scales such as organs and brain regions. Along with many colors and size scales, light microscopes can investigate dynamical phenomenon in living organisms such as neurons communicating with action potentials (with Amina Kinkhabwala and Joseph Schulz), pathogens invading cells (with Cheryl Okumura), and cells migrating during organ development (with Frank Macabenta). 

1. Stellaris Confocal : To look at the smallest scales, a laser is focused in one spot and light from that laser pulse is collected using sensitive (HyD) detectors. Scanning this laser back and forth across the biological sample forms a photo and moving the laser focus up and down in the sample creates images throughout the sample volume. The Stellaris also can tile images across the entire range of the motorized stage. So entire samples on a slide can be captured with ease, such as a plant leaf internal structure (with Gretchen North) or interactions between sponges and microbes (with Shana Goffredi). 

2. Leica Widefield microscope: Our widefield microscope can quickly take high resolution tiled images of entire biological samples without the additional steps required for laser-scanning confocal microscopy. This microscope is a great resource for detailed images of biological samples in both visible light and using excited fluorescing molecules bound to biological structures. 

3. Revvity Cellometer: