<h1 class="ql-align-center"><strong style="color: rgb(230, 0, 0);">Fluorescence Microscopy</strong></h1><p><br></p><h3><strong>Context</strong>&nbsp;</h3><ul><li class="ql-indent-1">Researchers at the Winona State University, Minnesota, have created a design for a <strong>‘glow scope’</strong>, a device that could democratize access to fluorescence microscopy — at least partly so.</li></ul><h3><strong>About</strong>&nbsp;</h3><ul><li class="ql-indent-1">A fluorescence microscope <strong>views an object by studying how it re-emits light that it has absorbed, i.e. how it fluoresces. </strong>This is its basic principle.</li></ul><h3><strong>Working</strong></h3><ul><li class="ql-indent-1">The object is illuminated with light of a specific wavelength.&nbsp;</li><li class="ql-indent-1">Particles in the object absorb this light and re-emit it at a higher wavelength (i.e. different color).&nbsp;</li><li class="ql-indent-1">These particles are called<strong> fluorophores; the object is infused with them before being placed under the microscope.</strong></li><li class="ql-indent-1">When the fluorophores fluoresce, a <strong>fluorescent microscope can track them as they move inside the object, </strong>revealing the <strong>object’s internal shape and other characteristics.</strong></li><li class="ql-indent-1">Scientists have developed different fluorophores to identify and study different entities, from specific parts of the DNA to protein complexes.</li><li class="ql-indent-1">There are versions of fluorescent microscopes with more sophisticated abilities, such as epifluorescence and confocal laser scanning microscopes.</li></ul><h3><strong>Applications:</strong></h3><ul><li class="ql-indent-1">It is used to image specific features of small specimens such as microbes.</li><li class="ql-indent-1">It is also used to visually enhance 3-D features at small scales.</li><li class="ql-indent-1">It allows the use of multicolor staining, labeling of structures within cells, and the measurement of the physiological state of a cell.</li><li class="ql-indent-1">It is the most popular method for studying the dynamic behavior exhibited in live-cell imaging.</li><li class="ql-indent-1">Different molecules can now be stained with different colors, allowing multiple types of molecules to be tracked simultaneously.</li></ul><h3><strong>What is Optical Microscopy?</strong></h3><ul><li class="ql-indent-1">An optical microscope, also known as a light microscope, views an object by studying how it absorbs, reflects, or scatters visible light.</li><li class="ql-indent-1">It uses one or a series of lenses to magnify images of small samples with visible light.</li><li class="ql-indent-1">The lenses are placed between the sample and the viewer’s eye to magnify the image so that it can be examined in greater detail.</li></ul><p><br></p><h1 class="ql-align-center"><strong>PRELIMS NOTES:</strong><a href="https://www.sunyaias.com/subscription-details/prelims-2023-sunya-notes-current-affairs" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 204);"><strong>CLICK HERE</strong></a></h1>