| |
| |
| Preface | |
| |
| |
| Introduction: The history of using light as a working tool | |
| |
| |
| |
| From photons to the laser microtools | |
| |
| |
| |
| Light | |
| |
| |
| |
| Lasers: sources of peculiar light | |
| |
| |
| |
| Microscopes and cameras | |
| |
| |
| |
| Laser microbeams and optical tweezers | |
| |
| |
| |
| Why and how light can be used as a microtool | |
| |
| |
| |
| Pulsed laser microbeams | |
| |
| |
| |
| Interaction of pulsed lasers with biological matter | |
| |
| |
| |
| Interaction of optical tweezers with biological material | |
| |
| |
| |
| Light pressure: Some quantitative relationships | |
| |
| |
| |
| Gradient forces: Full control in three dimensions | |
| |
| |
| |
| Unprecedented accuracy and precision: Nanometers and piconewtons | |
| |
| |
| |
| From the first simple experiments to sophisticated applications of laser microtools | |
| |
| |
| |
| Microbeams in developmental biology | |
| |
| |
| |
| Intermezzo I: Cells and cellular organelles | |
| |
| |
| |
| Laser microbeam studies on unicellular organisms, cells and subcellular structures | |
| |
| |
| |
| Optical tweezers enter the stage | |
| |
| |
| |
| Mitosis, molecular motors and muscles: What laser microtools can teach us | |
| |
| |
| |
| Intermezzo II: Reproduction and motion | |
| |
| |
| |
| What drives cell division? Laser microtools help to find the answer | |
| |
| |
| |
| Molecular motors: True nanotechnology | |
| |
| |
| |
| DNA as a molecular individuum | |
| |
| |
| |
| The ultimate DNA analytics: Single molecules | |
| |
| |
| |
| Single molecule DNA reactions | |
| |
| |
| |
| Intermezzo III: Genes, chromosomes and genetic diseases | |
| |
| |
| |
| Laser microdissection of chromosomes | |
| |
| |
| |
| From biology to medicine | |
| |
| |
| |
| Laser microtools in plant cell biology | |
| |
| |
| |
| Microperforation of cell walls and cell membranes | |
| |
| |
| |
| From laser-induced cell fusion to antibodies and immunology | |
| |
| |
| |
| Towards medical diagnostics: From blood to cancer | |
| |
| |
| |
| Laser microbeam and optical tweezers in reproduction medicine | |
| |
| |
| Appendix | |
| |
| |
| |
| Geometrical optics | |
| |
| |
| |
| Ray optics: Lenses and image formation | |
| |
| |
| |
| Resolution of a microscope and focusing a laser | |
| |
| |
| |
| Light as a wave: Mathematical representation | |
| |
| |
| |
| Absorption, scattering and fluorescence | |
| |
| |
| Index | |