Picture of the Month
These images were acquired using MIC instruments. For suggestions, comments and to submit your picture to be featured here, please contact Stan Vitha (vitha@mic.tamu.edu, tel. 845-1607)
March 2013
Photoswitching of mOrange2 fluorescent protein. The chloroplast division protein FtsZ2 tagged with mOrange2 was expressed in yeast and imaged using Olympus FV1000 confocal microscope. Repeated excitation with 543 nm laser drives the fluorescent protein to dark state and the fluorescence signal declines. The sample was then illuminated with 405 nm laser which converts mOrange2 from the dark state to the fluorescence-capable state, leading to elevated fluorescence signal at the beginning of the next excitation sequence. Image by Stanislav Vitha, MIC.
July 2012
ER-targeted Green Fluorescent Protein expressed in tobacco, imaged using Olympus FV1000 confocal microscope and a silicon immersion 60x/1.3 objective . The XZ and YZ panels show very good depth of imaging achieved in this highly scattering tissue. Sample courtesy Dr. Lawrence Griffing, Department of Biology. Imaging performed by Dr. Stanislav Vitha, MIC. For a through-focus movie, click here: GFP-ER-tobacco.avi
February 2012
Imaging core/shell structures in PbSeTe nanocubes. (a) XRD patterns of PbSeTe core/shell nanocubes (red) and Pb3Se2.8Te0.2 single ternary alloy nanocubes (black). (b,d) TEM images [inset of (b): SAED pattern] and (c) HAADF-STEM EDS line scan profile of PbSeTe core/shell nanocubes. (e) WBDF image. (f) HRTEM image of a single PbSeTe core/shell nanocube. (g–j) Elemental maps of Pb (red), Se (purple), Te (green), and their Se+Te overlap, respectively; scale bar, 20 nm. The TEM work was done by Dr. Zhiping Luo, and published on J. Am. Chem. Soc. 133 (44), 17590–17593 (2011). [Abstract] [HTML] [PDF]
December 2011
Quantitative analysis of electron diffraction pattern (EDP). (a) EDP taken from Au-Fe nanoparticles; (b) intensity profile, as well as the difference after subtracting the simulated background using the power law; (c) the Pawley refinement (refined background is shown); (d) reflection intensities after subtracting the refined background in (c). This work was published by Zhiping Luo, Yolanda Vasquez, James F. Bondi, and Raymond E. Schaak. Pawley and Rietveld refinements using electron diffraction from L12-type intermetallic Au3Fe1-x nanocrystals during their in-situ order-disorder transition. Ultramicroscopy 111 (8), 1295-1304 (2011). [HTML] [PDF]
September 2011
Self-assembled superlattice structure of octahedral Pt3Ni nanocrystals revealed by electron tomography. (a) TEM image and SAED; (b) magnified image of (a); (c) structure models of the bcc packing unit cell; (d) reconstructed volume; (e-g) slice view of bottom, middle, and top layers, respectively; (h) superimposition of (e-g). This work was performed by Dr. Zhiping Luo, and published by Jun Zhang*, Zhiping Luo*, Zewei Quan, Yuxuan Wang, Amar Kumbhar, Detlef-M. Smilgies, and Jiye Fang. Low Packing Density Self-Assembled Superstructure of Octahedral Pt3Ni Nanocrystals. Nano Lett. 11 (7), 2912–2918 (2011). * Co-first authors. [Abstract] [HTML] [PDF]
June 2011
Nanoboxes and nanoframes studied by transmission electron microscopy. (a) Synthesis route; (b-d) TEM image, cross-sectional view of 3D reconstruction, and iso-surface of the nanobox with a lid on the top; (e) electron diffraction pattern showing single crystallinity; (f-h) TEM image, cross-sectional view of 3D reconstruction, and iso-surface of the nanoframe showing the open top. The TEM work was performed by Dr. Zhiping Luo, and published by Anna Chen, Zhiping Luo and Mustafa Akbulut, Chem. Commun. 47 (8), 2312-2314 (2011). [Abstract] [Rich HTML] [PDF]
April 2011
CuInSe2 nanowire revealed by electron tomography. (a) STEM image of a nanowire; (b) 3-D reconstructed volume, with two locations of the nanowire where cross-sectional views are obtained, as shown in (c) and (d) respectively. Images were taken by Dr. Zhiping Luo, and published on J. Mater. Chem. [Abstract] [Rich HTML] [PDF]
March 2011:
A superlattice pattern composed of In2O3 nanoctahedra and Pd spherical nanoparticles, assembled by opposite electrical charges. (a) TEM image; (b) reconstructed volume rendering; (c) close to edge-on side view of the volume; (d) edge-on side view of the volume. It is revealed that most of the Pd NPs locate on the middle plane of the In2O3 nanoctahedra well above the substrate surface (support film), rather than sitting on it. Images were taken by Dr. Zhiping Luo, and published on ACS Nano 4 (4), 1821-1828 (2010). [Abstract] [Full text HTML] [PDF]
December 2010:
FRAP (Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching) analysis of a GFP-tagged transcription factor-like protein in Arabidopsis nucleus. TAIR Stock # CS84731 = line N7, which expresses a GFP fusion to a transcription factor-like protein (Cutler et al.,2000. PNAS 97(7),3718). Photobleaching using the SIM scanner on the Olympus FV1000 confocal microscope and bi-directional scanning permitted image acquisition at high frame rate, with the first post-bleach image (T=260ms) acquired less than 25 ms after bleaching (Bleach T= 227-238 ms). The region of interest (ROI) for bleaching and intensity measurement is indicated by the circle. Image acquired by Stanislav Vitha during the FRAP/RICS imaging tutorial in the MIC, December 1st, 2010.
July/August 2010:
Surface topology of grapefruit peel. Topographical projection from a confocal z-stack was visualized with Surface3D plugin in ImageJ software. The scale is given in micrometers. Image by Stanislav Vitha.
May 2010:
Leaf of a transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plant expressing the tubulin-like chloroplast division protein FtsZ2 fused with Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP). The three-channel confocal image shows GFP fluorescence (green), chlorophyll fluorescence (red) and a transmitted bright-field image (gray). Image acquired by Stanislav Vitha on the Olympus FV1000 confocal microscope, using a 60x/1.2 water immersion objective.
February 2010:
January 2010:
Histone-GFP fusion protein in Neurospora crassa hyphae. Specimen courtesy of Dr. Bell-Pedersen (Department of Biology, http://www.bio.tamu.edu/FACMENU/FACULTY/Bell-PedersenD.htm). A z-stack of GFP fluorescence images was acquired with z-step of 0.2 um, using Zeiss Axiophot microscope equipped with Plan Neofluoar 100x/1.3 oil immersion objective and a Coolsnap cf camera. The raw image stack was processed with AutoDeblur X software (Media Cybernetics) using 100 iterations of blind deconvolution algorithm. Maximum intensity projection of the raw and deconvolved stacks is shown. Image data was acquired by Laura Short (Department of Anthropology) during the Spring 2009 Light Microscopy course offered by MIC (BIOL-608, Theory and Applications of Light Microscopy). For additional views of the deconvolved dataset, go to Deconvolution page in MIC Instrumens section.
June 2009:
Pollen of Artemisia (Asteraceae). Pollen grains were extracted and embedded in 2,2-thiodiethanol medium and imaged in a photon-counting mode on an Olympus FV1000 confocal microscope equipped with a 100x/1.4 oil immersion objective. The 3D image stack was surface-rendered using Osirix software. Sample preparation and imaging By Stanislav Vitha (MIC), rendering by Amen Zwa (Gannontech Inc.). Scale bar = 10 micrometers.
April 2009:
Drosophila brain immunofluorescently labeled to show localization of circadian-clock proteins. Projections of 3D confocal image stacks. Olympus FV1000 confocal microscope, 20x/0.85 oil immersion objective. Images courtesy Jerry Houl (jhoul@mail.bio.tamu.edu), the Hardin lab, Department of Biology.
February 2009:
Confocal image of Drosophila melanogaster polytene chromosomes from whole mount salivary glands. Anti-fibrillarin antibody was used to detect the nucleolus (red) and DAPI to stain the DNA. Image by Silvana Paredes (Department of Biology, PI: Keith Maggert http://www.bio.tamu.edu/FACMENU/FACULTY/MaggertK.htm)
October/November 2008:
Interferometric micrograph of oil aerosol droplets on a glass slide. The micrograph allows to measure the droplet height by counting the number of interference fringes. Each black fringe corressponds to height step of 1/2 wavelength, in this case ~350 nm. The image was acquired using a Nikon 50x DI Mirau-type interferometric objective mounted on Zeiss Axiophot microscope. Incident light used for illumination was filtered using a 650 nm long-pass filter. Scale bar = 10 micrometers. Image by Stanislav Vitha, MIC.
September 2008:
A hand cross-section of transgenic rice stem histochemically stained for beta-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter activity (blue dye indicates sites with GUS activity). Zeiss Axiophot microscope, 10x/0.3 objective, DXM1200 color CCD camera. Scale bar = 100 micrometers. Sample courtesy Dr. Chandra Emani, IDMB, rice biotechnology group (http://www.idmb.tamu.edu/hallslab/monocot.shtm). Sectioning and imaging by Stan Vitha, MIC.
August 2008:
Confocal 3D imaging of beta-glucuronidase (GUS) histochemical staining in Arabidopsis thaliana root tips. The blue reaction product resulting form the indigogenic histochemical reaction exhibits fluorescence near 700 nm and is thus amendable to 3D confocal imaging. The GUS staining is predominantly present in the root cap and rhizodermis. Olympus FV1000 confocal microscope, 60x/1.2 water imemrsion objective, excitation by 633 nm laser. Sample courtesy Sonia Iriyogen, W. Versaw lab (Biology, http://www.bio.tamu.edu/FACMENU/FACULTY/VersawW.htm). Image acquired by Stan Vitha.
Click on the image to view the 3D animation (Quicktime movie file).
July 2008:
A crystal of zeolite imaged on the JEOL 6400 scanning electron microscope at 5,000x magnification, 15,000 volt accelerating voltage, and 16mm working distance. Image by Dr. Michael Pendelton, MIC.
June 2008:
Transient expression of GFP-tagged proteins in tomato protoplasts. The 3D image was acquired using Olympus FV1000 confocal microscope, 60x/1.2 water immersion objective. Green = GFP, red = chloroplasts. Image width is 370 um. Original image data courtesy Maria Julissa Ek-Ramos, PhD.,
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics; http://devarennelab.tamu.edu/
May 2008:
April 2008:
Surface topology of a 3D resolution test specimen. Reflected light confocal data. Olympus FV1000 confocal microscope, 40x/0.6 dry objective. Topological projection of the confocal dataset was visualized with Surface3D plugin in ImageJ software. The square wells in the specimen are 200 nm deep. Image by Stan Vitha.
March 2008:
Botryococcus braunii colonial microalgae were crushed, releasing accumulated hydrocarbons stored in the extracellular matrix. Sample courtesy of Taylor Weiss (T. Devarenne Lab, Dept. of Biochemistry and Biophysics). Differential Interference contrast image was acquired on Zeiss Axiophot microscope, using PlanApo 100x/1.3 oil imm. objective, by Stan Vitha.
