Intro to the Biology Lab

How to clean the lab to avoid data contamination

How to Pipette

Why we need to do it like this

Microscope Procedures

Materials:

Light microscope with camera & appropriate software

Slide(s) with samples

Protocol:

Turn on power source, laser (may not be necessary for bright field, only for fluorescence), and microscope.

Open camera software and ensure cameras are on.

Place the slide upside down on the stage and secure between stage clips (do not flip left-to-right), images seen through the microscope will be inverted.

Ensure the camera pin is pushed all the way in (allowing the light to transmit to the eyepiece) and turn on the light.

Select desired magnification level (10x, 20x, etc.) and use the joystick to move the slide in the x-y plane so that the correct portion of the sample of interest is directly under the objective.

Look through the eyepiece and focus using the large (large vertical stage movements) then the small (small vertical stage movements) knob, being careful not to bring objective and slide too close.

Pull the camera pin all the way out (allowing light to transmit to the camera).

Select the appropriate camera (black and white or color ), and press live camera.

Ensure the sample remains focused through the computer screen and adjust exposure to ensure cells are visible and the background is bright.

Click “snap” to take a picture of the sample, and save to the appropriate folder on the computer.

File name should include the name of the experiment, slide number, eye number, magnification level, and date.

When finished taking photos, close the software, return the microscope to the objective with the lowest magnification, push the camera pin all the way in, turn off the light and the microscope.

Turn off the laser, then turn off the power source.

Results:

Focused, visible photos of the samples on the slides in a .czi file format. Can transfer files to other computers using a flash drive. Can convert .czi files to .jpg using Fiji or other software to be opened on other computers.