BIOENG 1383/2383
Biomedical Optical Microscopy
INSTRUCTOR Yang Liu (liuy@pitt.edu), Ph: 412-6233751,
5117 Centre Ave HCCLB 2.32, Pittsburgh, PA 15232
LECTURES
G24 Benedum Hall, Tuesdays& Thursdays, 8-9.15am
OFFICE HOURS
By appointment.
GRADING
A) Exams (25%): One midterm exam will be given during the course.
B) Homework (15%): Problem solving and paper reading assignments.
C) Class participation (20%): Participation in class discussion is required.
D) Final project (40%): Undergraduate students will select a paper in which a biological problem
is specifically addressed by optical microscopy techniques. The student will write a 5 to 10 page
paper analyzing the paper in context of other work. Graduate students will propose a research
project in which a biological problem is addressed by optical microscopy or a new type of optical
microscopy is designed to meet certain needs for biological/biomedical research. The student
will write a 5-10 page mini-proposal with background, specific aims and research design. The
student will present a 15-20 minute presentation of that work to the class.
TEXTBOOKS
“Fundamentals of Light Microscopy and Electronic Imaging”, Douglas B. Murphy, 1st edition,
2001 (highly recommended).
“Optics”, Eugene Hecht, 4th edition, 2001 (recommended).
“Fundamentals of Photonics”, Bahaa EA Saleh & Malvin C Teich, 1st Edition, 1991 or 2nd
Edition, 2007 (recommended).
“Handbook of Biological Confocal Microscopy”, James Pawley, 2nd edition, 1995
(recommended).
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/index.html (Useful website).
TENTATIVE CLASS SCHEDULE (Excluding the week of Spring Break)
Week 1-2
Physical basis of light and electromagnetic waves
Basic geometric optics
Week 3-4
Diffraction theory, Image formation, Optical contrast
Basic structures of light microscopy
Week 5
Bright-field microscopy, dark-field microscopy, polarization microscopy
Week 6-7
Phase contrast microscopy, Differential interference microscopy (DIC)
Quantitative phase microscopy
Week 8
Fluorescence microscopy, common fluorescent labels for biomedical research
Week 9
Midterm
Week 10
Three-dimensional imaging microscopy (e.g., confocal, structured-illumination)
Week 11
Non-linear microscopy (Two-photon, Second-harmonic generation)
Total internal reflection microscopy (TIRF)
Week 12
Optical microscopy for tissue/in-vivo imaging
Week 13
Image analysis (Guest lecturer)
Week 14
Class presentations
Week 15
Class presentations