LIVE CELL IMAGING BY INTEGRATING FLUORESCENCE AND MOTION- ENHANCED DIFFERENTIAL INTERFERENCE MICROSCOPY

Optical microscopy's resolution is limited by the wavelength of illuminating light and can be improved by selecting shorter wavelengths. The contrast of optical microscopy, which along with resolution, ultimately determines image quality and is enhanced in techniques such as differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy. Our recent DIC modification-- motion-enhanced DIC, or MEDIC --further improves contrast of moving objects by creating a time-averaged background that is subtracted from each image. Now, we have developed methods for simultaneous imaging using short wavelength DIC/MEDIC and standard fluorescence microscopy. Our novel method of integrating MEDIC and fluorescence imaging provides the tag-free contrast-enhanced advantages of MEDIC and the high specificity of fluorescence microscopy. An application of this new imaging method is the localization of the same moving object in both MEDIC and fluorescence, as demonstrated in this thesis. Simultaneous localization provides a richer context for the object since it can be identified from fluorescence microscopy and its interaction with unlabeled objects can be observed by DIC and MEDIC.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Ray, Steven Lane

• DIC

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/37665

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/37665