Fluorescence microscopy
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 18, 2026

Conducting Multiple Imaging Modes with One Fluorescence Microscope
Published on: October 28, 2018
Jeff W Lichtman1, José-Angel Conchello
1Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Harvard University, 7 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. jeff@mcb.harvard.edu
Abstract:
Although fluorescence microscopy permeates all of cell and molecular biology, most biologists have little experience with the underlying photophysical phenomena. Understanding the principles underlying fluorescence microscopy is useful when attempting to solve imaging problems. Additionally, fluorescence microscopy is in a state of rapid evolution, with new techniques, probes and equipment appearing almost daily. Familiarity with fluorescence is a prerequisite for taking advantage of many of these developments. This review attempts to provide a framework for understanding excitation of and emission by fluorophores, the way fluorescence microscopes work, and some of the ways fluorescence can be optimized.
Related Concept Videos
Two-Dimensional Microscopy in Microbiology
Super-resolution Fluorescence Microscopy
Immunofluorescence Microscopy
Confocal Fluorescence Microscopy
Fluorescence and Phosphorescence: Instrumentation
Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy

