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.
Objective: UPlanSApo 100x oil/1.40 | Exposure: 250 ms |
Microscope: Olympus DSU/IX81 | Gain: 3 |
Camera: Hamamatsu ImagEM | Interval: 500 ms |
Microtubules are straight, hollow cylinders that can be found throughout the cytoplasm of all eukaryotic cells (prokaryotes don't have them) and carry out a variety of functions, ranging from transport to structural support. About 25 nanometers in diameter, microtubules form part of the cytoskeleton that gives structure and shape to a cell, and also serve as conveyor belts moving other organelles throughout the cytoplasm. In addition, microtubules are the major components of cilia and flagella, and participate in the formation of spindle fibers during cell division (mitosis). The length of microtubules in the cell varies between 200 nanometers and 25 micrometers, depending upon the task of a particular microtubule and the state of the cell's life cycle. In the digital video presented above, Gray fox lung fibroblast cells (FoLu line) were transiently transfected with a fusion construct of mEGFP and human alpha-tubulin to highlight microtubules (green fluorescence) in order to visualize dynamic processes.