FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPE - SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
News: Scientists
devise 'glowscope' to bring fluorescent microscopy to schools
What's in the news?
● Researchers
from the Winona State University say a rudimentary fluorescence microscope can
cost around $30-850 (2500-24,100) and many individuals may not be able to
afford this, students in resource-poor labs can use foldscopes and glow scopes
to study the microscopic world.
Fluorescence Microscope:
● An
optical microscope views an object by studying how it absorbs, reflects or scatters visible light.
● A
fluorescence microscope views an object by studying how it re-emits light that it has absorbed i.e. how it fluoresces.
Features:
● The
object is illuminated with light of a specific wavelength.
● Particles
in the object absorb this light and re-emits it at a higher wavelength.
● These
particles are called fluorophores;
the object is infused with them before being placed under the microscope.
Working:
● When
the fluorophores fluoresce, a fluorescent microscope can track them as they
move inside the object, revealing the object’s internal shape and other
characteristics.
● For
example, a fluorophore called the
Hoechst stain binds to DNA and is excited by ultraviolet light.
● So
a tissue sample collected from a person could be injected with the Hoechst
stain and placed under a fluorescent microscope.
● When
the sample is illuminated by ultraviolet light, the stain absorbs the light and
re-emits it at a higher wavelength.
● The
microscope will point out where this is happening - in the nuclei of cells,
where DNA is located. This way, the nuclei
in the tissue can be labeled for further study.
Significance:
● Researchers
have developed a rudimentary fluorescence microscope that they say can be put
together at a cost of $30- $50 (₹2,500-₹4,100).
● With
this fluorescence microscope, researchers were able to image the creature's brain, spinal cord (using a fluorophore called
DsRed), heart (mCherry), and head and jaw bones (mRFP).