Lecture Overview

Fluorescence is a physical phenomenon in which a compound absorbs light and re-emits this as light of a usually higher wavelength. Since the excitation light source and the emitted fluorescence can be separated very well, we can detect fluorescence with very high sensitivity, making it even possible to visualize single molecules. Many different fluorescent probes for cellular components have been developed, including purely genetically encoded ones like the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP). For these reasons, fluorescence microscopy is a very powerful tool in Cell Biology research.

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