To understand biological processes it is becoming increasingly important to analyse biomolecules at the resolution of single cells or cell-types. Laser Microdissection (LMD) allows you to be that “specific”.
LMD makes it possible to distinguish between relevant and non-relevant cells or tissues and enables researchers to obtain homogeneous, ultrapure samples from heterogeneous starting material. It allows you to selectively and routinely analyze regions of interest down to single cells (or even subcellular structures) to extract DNA, RNA, protein or metabolites either from living cells (cell cultures) or from fixed or frozen tissue sections in any biological system.
The Leica LMD7000 ensures contact free dissection of cells using an UV laser and collects dissected cells by gravity. High energy focussed laser pulses induce “cold ablation” of the tissue without impairing or heating the surrounding tissue. The LMD7000 is an automated upright microscope, has a high power laser with additional options to adjust the laser pulse frequency and laser head current for dissection of hard tissues like bone, wood or plant tissue. The system allows laser microdissection to be combined with standard multichannel fluorescence microscopy to aid the selection of specific cell types via histological staining, immunochemistry or use of fluorescently tagged proteins. It offers an extremely precise, highly selective laser microdissection method for a broad range of tissues, including live cell applications such as isolation of specific cells from cell cultures, cell ablation or microsurgery.