L-1 Confocal and Multi-photon microscopy

Life Sciences

Commercial confocal microscopes have now been available for just over 20 years, and have given biologists and materials scientists the ability to resolve samples in three dimensions. Initially, in biology, the major application was in immunofluorescence, but the development of new probes has shifted the emphasis to imaging living cells, and the introduction of techniques such as lifetime imaging (FLIM) and photobleaching / photoconversion have made possible experimental manipulation at the subcellular level. The newer technique of multiphoton microscopy offers, with essentially the same instrumentation, increased penetration into thick samples and greater preservation of cell viability. Multiphoton microscopes also offer the possibility of imaging by second harmonic generation, allowing imaging in both biology and material science without using any probes and without photodamage.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

• Development and application of high-speed confocal microscopes
• Other advances in confocal and multiphoton technology
• Use of confocal and multiphoton microscopes to study dynamic cell processes
• Development of novel probes for confocal microscopy
• Applications of second-harmonic imaging

Papers on other topics of confocal and multiphoton instrumentation and application are also welcome.

Chairpersons:

Invited Speakers (tentative):

- Fernando Navarro, Depart. Of Cell Biology, Center for Research and Advance Studies, Mexico City, Mexico
- Juan B. Kouri, Depart. Of Infectomic and Molecular Pathogenesis, Center for Research and Advance Studies, Mexico City, Mexico
- Pier Alberto Benedetti, Institute for Physical and Chemical Processes (IPCF), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via Moruzzi 1, I-56100 Pisa, Italy