IMPRS Microscopy Course
Science course
- Start: Mar 27, 2025 09:00 AM (Local Time Germany)
- End: Jun 24, 2025 12:00 PM
- Speaker: Veit Grabe, Tobias Engl, Dongik Chang, Maite Colinas
- Head of Microscopic Imaging Service Group, Head of Research Group Chemistry of Insect Microbe Interactions, Doctoral Researcher Department of Insect Symbiosis, Postdoctoral Researcher Department of Natural Product Biochemistry
- Location: MPI-CE
- Room: TBA
Course description
This 5-day course (broken up into 5 units with two half-days each) aims to provide you with a basis for general imaging of biological specimen, be it transmitted light or fluorescence microscopy, electron microscopy or micro-computed tomography. It covers the basics of theory behind the different imaging modalities as well as sample preparation, experimental design and an introduction to FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) and expression of fluorescent reporter proteins as well as analysis of volumetric imaging data. Other advanced techniques available at the MPI for Chemical Ecology are also included, such as multiphoton microscopy, super-resolution microscopy will be at least briefly introduced. The theoretical parts will be combined with several practical exercises on the different experimental setups.
You are welcome to provide us with your own samples, but please inform us in advance so we can include them in the practical parts.
Unit I
March 27th
9:00 – 10:30 (B2.021)
Lecture on the general basics of transmitted light microscopy (Veit Grabe)
11:00 – 13:00
Instruction & hands on time for upright and inverse microscopy, Köhler illumination, contrast methods, white balance, aperture, EDOF & camera types (split groups with Tobias Engl & Veit Grabe)
March 28th
9:00 – 10:30 (B2.021)
Lecture on basics of reflected light microscopy and experimental design with fluorescence (Veit Grabe)
11:00 – 13:00
Instruction for widefield fluorescence microscopes (split groups with Tobias Engl & Veit Grabe)
Unit II
April 22nd
9:00 – 10:30 (B2.021)
Lecture on FISH methodology and preparation of FISH samples (Tobias Engl)
11:00 – 13:00
Start of preparation of FISH samples (Tobias Engl, Dongik Chang)
April 23rd
9:00 – 10:00
Further processing of FISH samples from the day before (Tobias Engl, Dongik Chang)
10:30 – 13:00
Microscopy of FISH samples (split groups with Tobias Engl, Dongik Chang
Unit III
May 12th
9:00 – 10:30 (A1.041)
Lecture on possibilities and experimental considerations in x-ray computer tomography (µCT, Veit Grabe)
11:00 – 13:00
Sample preparation for µCT & start of demo scans that will run over night (Veit Grabe)
May 13th
9:00 – 10:30
Processing and artifact correction of primary scanned data (Veit Grabe)
11:00 – 12:00
Partly AI-assisted analysis of the reconstructed volumetric data (Veit Grabe)
Unit IV
June 2nd
9:00 – 10:30 (A1.041)
Lecture on fluorescent reporter protein introduction (Maite Colinas)
11:00 – 13:00
Some practical parts of injection of Nicotiana benthamiana with Agrobacterium tumefaciens
June 3rd
9:00 – 10:30 (B2.021)
Lecture on advanced imaging modalities (cLSM, 2-photon, FLIM, STED, Veit Grabe)
11:00 – 12:00
Microscopy of Nicotiana samples (split groups with Tobias Engl & Veit Grabe)
Unit V
June 23rd
9:00 – 10:30 (A1.041)
Lecture on electron microscopy (Tobias Engl)
11:00 – 13:00
Instructions on sample preparation & some practical demonstrations
June 24th
9:00 – 10:30
Instruction & hands-on time on scanning electron microscopy I (e.g. topology SE detector)
11:00 – 12:00
Instruction & hands-on time on scanning electron microscopy II (e.g. composition BSE detector)
This 5-day course (broken up into 5 units with two half-days each) aims to provide you with a basis for general imaging of biological specimen, be it transmitted light or fluorescence microscopy, electron microscopy or micro-computed tomography. It covers the basics of theory behind the different imaging modalities as well as sample preparation, experimental design and an introduction to FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) and expression of fluorescent reporter proteins as well as analysis of volumetric imaging data. Other advanced techniques available at the MPI for Chemical Ecology are also included, such as multiphoton microscopy, super-resolution microscopy will be at least briefly introduced. The theoretical parts will be combined with several practical exercises on the different experimental setups.
You are welcome to provide us with your own samples, but please inform us in advance so we can include them in the practical parts.
Unit I
March 27th
9:00 – 10:30 (B2.021)
Lecture on the general basics of transmitted light microscopy (Veit Grabe)
11:00 – 13:00
Instruction & hands on time for upright and inverse microscopy, Köhler illumination, contrast methods, white balance, aperture, EDOF & camera types (split groups with Tobias Engl & Veit Grabe)
March 28th
9:00 – 10:30 (B2.021)
Lecture on basics of reflected light microscopy and experimental design with fluorescence (Veit Grabe)
11:00 – 13:00
Instruction for widefield fluorescence microscopes (split groups with Tobias Engl & Veit Grabe)
Unit II
April 22nd
9:00 – 10:30 (B2.021)
Lecture on FISH methodology and preparation of FISH samples (Tobias Engl)
11:00 – 13:00
Start of preparation of FISH samples (Tobias Engl, Dongik Chang)
April 23rd
9:00 – 10:00
Further processing of FISH samples from the day before (Tobias Engl, Dongik Chang)
10:30 – 13:00
Microscopy of FISH samples (split groups with Tobias Engl, Dongik Chang
Unit III
May 12th
9:00 – 10:30 (A1.041)
Lecture on possibilities and experimental considerations in x-ray computer tomography (µCT, Veit Grabe)
11:00 – 13:00
Sample preparation for µCT & start of demo scans that will run over night (Veit Grabe)
May 13th
9:00 – 10:30
Processing and artifact correction of primary scanned data (Veit Grabe)
11:00 – 12:00
Partly AI-assisted analysis of the reconstructed volumetric data (Veit Grabe)
Unit IV
June 2nd
9:00 – 10:30 (A1.041)
Lecture on fluorescent reporter protein introduction (Maite Colinas)
11:00 – 13:00
Some practical parts of injection of Nicotiana benthamiana with Agrobacterium tumefaciens
June 3rd
9:00 – 10:30 (B2.021)
Lecture on advanced imaging modalities (cLSM, 2-photon, FLIM, STED, Veit Grabe)
11:00 – 12:00
Microscopy of Nicotiana samples (split groups with Tobias Engl & Veit Grabe)
Unit V
June 23rd
9:00 – 10:30 (A1.041)
Lecture on electron microscopy (Tobias Engl)
11:00 – 13:00
Instructions on sample preparation & some practical demonstrations
June 24th
9:00 – 10:30
Instruction & hands-on time on scanning electron microscopy I (e.g. topology SE detector)
11:00 – 12:00
Instruction & hands-on time on scanning electron microscopy II (e.g. composition BSE detector)