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EMCCDs Article Electron Multiplying Charge-Coupled Devices (EMCCDs)

By incorporating on-chip multiplication gain, the electron multiplying CCD achieves, in an all solid-state sensor, the single-photon detection sensitivity typical of intensified or electron-bombarded CCDs at much lower cost and without compromising the quantum efficiency and resolution characteristics of the conventional CCD structure.

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Microtubule EB3 in HeLa Cells


Objective: UPlanSApo 100x oil/1.40 Exposure: 250 ms
Microscope: Olympus DSU/IX81 Gain: 3
Camera: Hamamatsu ImagEM Interval: 500 ms

By adding or removing globular tubulin proteins, the length of polymeric microtubules can be increased or decreased. Because the two ends of a microtubule are not the same, however, the rate at which growth or depolymerization occurs at each pole is different. The end of a polarized filament that grows and shrinks the fastest is known as the plus end and the opposing end is called the minus end. For all microtubules, the minus end is the one with exposed alpha-tubulins. In an animal cell, it is this end that is located at the centriole-containing centrosome found near the nucleus, while the plus end, comprised of exposed beta-units, is projected out toward the cell's surface. Microtubules are continuously being assembled and disassembled so that tubulin monomers can be transported elsewhere to build microtubules when needed. The digital video above illustrates the tracking of microtubule +TIPs (plus end tracking proteins) in human cervical carcinoma (HeLa line) epithelial cells labeled with a chimera of EB3 fused to mEGFP.

BACK TO HeLa CELLS WITH mEGFP-EB3