Basic Confocal Microscopy

Book excerpt: Basic Confocal Microscopy, Second Edition builds on the successful first edition by keeping the same format and reflecting relevant changes and recent developments in this still-burgeoning field. This format is based on the Confocal Microscopy Workshop that has been taught by several of the authors for nearly 20 years and remains a popular workshop for gaining basic skills in confocal microscopy. While much of the information concerning fluorescence and confocal microscopy that made the first edition a success has not changed in the six years since the book was first published, confocal imaging is an evolving field and recent advances in detector technology, operating software, tissue preparation and clearing, image analysis, and more have been updated to reflect this. Several of these advances are now considered routine in many laboratories, and others such as super resolution techniques built on confocal technology are becoming widely available.