20th March 2018.
W Brad Amos, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge
Abstract
The third seminar of the Light microscopy series will be given by William B Amos of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge in the College lecture on Tuesday tthe 20th of March at 2.00 pm and will address Polarisation and Interference Methods. The seminar will discuss the nature of polarised light, the way in which polarised light interacts with crystals and biomolecules, differential interference contrast using polarisation and the use of fluorescence in microscopy including fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, fluorescent lifetime measurements and Forster resonance energy transfer.
Biography
William Brad Amos was trained as a zoologist, researched in cell biology and is now a designer of optical instruments. With John White, Mick Fordham and Richard Durbin in Cambridge, he developed an instrument that has set the standard of modern confocal microscopes. Derivatives of this instrument are now made by many companies and are in use throughout the world. His scientific work is now carried out done in collaboration with Gail McConnell in the University of Strathclyde. This collaboration has resulted in several novel applications of optical physics in microscopy, including what is arguably the greatest design change in microscope objectives for 100 years. This is called the Mesolens, the name signifying that it has the wide field of a photographic macro lens and the high resolution of a microscope objective.
