The workshop is intensive, starting at 9am and continuing until at least 5pm daily. Additional hands-on experience is available in the evenings. Samples will be provided but attendees are also encouraged to bring their own samples. Even fixed samples may be useful if your live samples do not travel well.

Snacks and lunch will be provided each day so attendees can remain close to the laboratory.

The workshop includes a review of basic microscope techniques including differential interference contrast, phase contrast, brightfield, and fluorescence microscopy. Once the fundamentals are reviewed, attendees will learn about digital imaging for quantitative and illustrative purposes and then practice imaging. Specialized approaches and techniques for live imaging will be integrated throughout the workshop.

The course provides intensive exposure to the spectrum of live imaging. Attendees will practice live imaging on fully equipped conventional inverted microscopes (inverted research microscopes with digital cameras) as well as explore (with an instructor) 2-photon (Olympus Fluoview 1000 MPE), and confocal microscopy (spinning disk with Olympus DSU and point scanning with Olympus Fluoview 1000S).