Confocal microscopy: Past, present and future

La Trobe University Department of Chemistry and Physics
Special Research Seminar
11am – 12:30pm, Friday, 29th January 2016
Hoogenraad Lecture Theatre, LIMS

Professor Colin Sheppard, Italian Institute of Technology

Confocal microscopy: Past, present and future

 

Abstract

Confocal microscopy has made a dramatic impact on biomedical imaging, in particular, but also in other areas such as industrial inspection. Confocal microscopy can image in 3D, with good resolution, into living biological cells and tissue. I have had the good fortune to be involved with the development of confocal microscopy over the last 40 years. Other techniques have been introduced that overcome some of its limitations, but still it is the preferred choice in many cases. And new developments in confocal microscopy, such as focal modulation microscopy, and image-scanning microscopy, can improve its performance in terms of penetration depth, resolution and signal level.