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Asked by 2001ferdinerl to Emily on 15 Jun 2011.
Question: which microscope do you like ??
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Emily Robinson answered on 15 Jun 2011:
Well in my research I look at different markers of inflammation in the brain after stroke. I do this by looking at rats brains and staining them with very fancy antibodies for different inflammation markers or cell types. To look at some of these antibodies you need to look through a fluorescent microscope which allows you to see different wavelengths. So you get some very pretty pictures. This is not my work but an example of what it can look like, http://www.nei.nih.gov/eyeonnei/snapshot/archive/0110.asp
I picked this one as it was the clearest on google images so it is of the eye not brain tissue, but you get microglia (green – brain immune cells) and blood vessels (red) in my rat brain samples too. Isn’t this cool! So my favourite microscope is a fluorescent one I take colourful photos of my rat brains on. The one I use at uni is nick-named Ernst (not sure why though).What is your favourite?
Comments
2001ferdinerl commented on :
i see and my favourite part is the differnet kinds of micospore
Emily commented on :
Somebody in my lab has just started using an electron microscope and his pictures are very cool of the barrier that separates the blood and the brain (called the blood brain barrier or BBB for short). I am also looking forward to using a confocal microscope on some of my samples which will allow me to see more clearly if some of the marker I am looking at are in the cell nucleus or the cytoplasm.
Kate commented on :
Ooh, Emily, which inflammation markers are you looking at? Some kind of cytokine I assume?
Emily commented on :
Yes!!! The main one I want to know about is interleukin-1, but I look at all sorts of other cytokines and chemokines to try and work out the mechanisms by which interleukin-1 is making stroke worse!