Fluorescent Dyes

Fluorescence Glossary

A list of fluorescence terms and definitions (courtesy of Omega Optical).

Fluorescence Database

This on-line database (courtesy of Bio-Rad) allows the user to search by name, by excitation maxima (+ or - a tolerance value) or by emission maxima (+ or - a tolerance value).

Other lists with information about fluorochrome characteristics include: a fluorochrome table at the Salk Institute Flow Cytometry lab and the spectral characteristics plots available from Molecular Probes about their dyes. See also the extensive fluorochrome lists available from Carl Zeiss, Inc and at the Olympus Microscopy Resource Center. A short PDF list of fluorescent dyes and their multi-photon characteristics is available from the University of Georgia's Center for Ultrastructural Research ( Adobe Acrobat reader is required to open this file).

Antibodies and Related Techniques

Antibody Resource Page

This site is a "a multidisciplinary resource on antibodies for both novices and experts."  There are: Educational Resources, Online Databanks/Databases, and much more. Other related resources include: the Cytokines Online Pathfinder Encyclopaedia and the Protein Kinase Resource.

Immunohistochemistry Home Page

A list of immunohistochemistry resources on the Internet. (Mahmood Aijazi, MD, MetroHealth Medical Center,Cleveland, Ohio)

Technical information from Jackson ImmunoResearch Labs:

The technical center includes information on: Common causes of background from secondary antibodies alone, Possible causes of weak signals from labeled secondary antibodies assuming that antigens are present and primary antibodies are working, and Precaution before choosing a mounting medium for Cy2, Cy3, and Cy5 conjugates.

Green Fluorescent Protein Applications Page:

Green Fluorescent Protein comes from the jellyfish Aequoria victoria and is used in a variety of research applications. This site has many useful GFP application links.

Immuno-gold

Immuno-gold can be useful when using a confocal in reflectance mode. Information about immuno-gold reagents can be found at Nanoprobes, Inc.

Sample Preparation Resources

Antifade reagents
Effect of Fixing/Mounting on 3D Structure

These two pages are from Lance Ladic's excellent 3-D Confocal Microscopy Home Page.

Tips and Techniques

This page is part of the "Advanced Microscopy for Teaching Laboratory" at Kent State University. It includes a very helpful tip on making your own glass-bottomed cell culture dishes (using a microscope coverslip) as well as a media & reagents page.

Technical Hints:

This page, from the Confocal microscope facility at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, contains some good suggestions regarding sample preparation for confocal microscopy. Note: this page's suggestion regarding coverslip thickness (they suggest #1 thickness) would not be appropriate for all confocal microscopes. Most confocal systems require coverslips that are 0.17 mm in thickness (the number on the lens), which is actually a #1.5 thickness coverslip.

Archives of the Confocal Listserver

This searchable archive of the confocal listserver can be an invaluable place to see if a question that you have has already been answered. Two sites that have archived specific discussion "threads" from the Confocal listserv are:  Tips and Tricks (University of Florida) and Aryeh M Weiss's Home Page (Jerusalem College of Technology).

Miscellaneous Other Resources:

Fluorescence Microscopy (Sabine Berg, Botanical Institute, University of Kiel, Germany)
Fluorescence Microscopy (Protocols Online)
Cell Biological Applications of Fluorescence Microscopy (Stephen Rogers, ITG Group, Beckman Institute, University of Illinois)