Laboratory Investigations Using Quantitative Microscopy

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Biological Sciences (61)This project is fully integrating quantitative methods into a course in vertebrate microanatomy by adapting digital technology into the classroom. While digital imaging technology is now widely available, using it effectively in undergraduate courses is limited by a lack of readily available protocols, lab materials, and lab exercises for undergraduate microscopy. In addition, software instruction to groups is usually done in computer labs distant from the biology laboratory. To address these problems, we are 1) developing a laboratory manual with special emphasis on image processing and quantitative methods for microscopy, 2) creating biologically meaningful investigations that apply the protocols, and from which students are collecting digital light and electron micrographs, 3) using the images students generate as well as commercially available datasets to teach image processing and quantitative analysis using readily available software (Adobe Photoshop and IPTK plugins), and 4) teaching image processing and analysis using wireless networked iBook computers at the benches in biology laboratories. By the end of the course, students should be able to prepare vertebrate tissues for light and electron microscopy, capture digital images, identify and describe characteristic tissue structures and make quantitative comparisons between samples.