The field of biology has recently undergone a revolution and explosion in imaging capabilities. We can now see cellular and microscopic events at unprecedented temporal and spatial scales. These advancements have affected a wide-array of biological disciplines, reflecting the broad scope of the Department of Biology at UM.
Dr. Joshua Bloomekatz, who earned his Ph.D. in Genetics at Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences in NYC, introduces students in the Cell Imaging course to the conceptual and practical aspects of the wide variety of modern light microscopes — from stereoscopes to super-resolution imaging techniques.
In particular we focus on the theoretical and practical aspects of confocal microscopy, the workhorse of modern cell biology laboratories. This focus includes training on the department’s advanced confocal microscope, a Lecia TCS SP8 X, with a white light laser. Students actively engage in all aspect of this course, which includes an imaging research project of the students’ own design involving the confocal microscope. Students also learn important skills related to experimental design as well as image processing and analysis. The important technical and conceptual skills taught in this class will help students succeed in biomedical and health science careers.
“I got time on confocal. Great microscope demos. Dr. Bloomekatz was fair and wanted students to succeed, but made you work for it in a positive way. ‘individual project’ component of course was nice; some real, hands on science.”
“Overall, this was a very informative and interesting class. Having not known much about the field of microscopy in general, I learned quite a bit about the different areas of microscopy and how to use the confocal microscope. This is a great skill to obtain.”
