ADVANCED OPTICAL MICROSCOPY FOR LIFE AND MATERIAL SCIENCE

Theory of light, light matter interaction, with an emphasis on fluorescence
The Light Microscope: history and evolution, components of a compound microscope
Light microscopy
- The optical components of compound microscope and their functions/operations
- The physics of light and glass
- Forming and maintaining optical resolution with these lenses
- Proper(Kohler) bright field illumination
- Principles of sample preparation for light microscopy
- Theory of image formation, diffraction-limited resolution
- Optical aberrations and their correction
- Illumination and image forming techniques:
* Brightfield Optics
* Oblique Illumination Techniques
* Imaging of Phase Objects
* Polarization Optics
* Fluorescence Microscopy
* Probes for fluorescence microscopy
* Confocal Microscopy
* Single molecule microscopy and applications in biology
* FCS and applications in biology
- Labeling and labeling strategies
- DNA sequencing with emphasis on single molecule optical approaches
- Non-linear microscopy: Multi-photon excitation, Second Harmonic Imaging, different Raman microscopy schemes
- New microscopies to improve resolution
- STED, structured light microscopy, PALM/STORM
Case studies in biology, biotechnology, material science,.

• Structural and functional analysis of cellular and subcellular entities at various length scales and with sensitivities down to the single molecule level via optical microscopy
• Introduction to DNA sequencing, an overview of the different technologies. The role of microscopy in DNA sequencing will be explained. Optical mapping as a coarse (compared to sequencing) but useful DNA tool will be outlined.
• Technical principles of electron microscopy (EM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) will be explained. Salient examples of the use of EM and AFM in a nano-biological context will be explained. The link with optical microscopy and the differences in resolution, dynamics, contrast, will be emphasized.