Laser microdissection

Laser microdissection is the act of specimen dissection whereby a focused laser beam passing through the optics of a light microscope serves as a cutting tool.

Carl Zeiss MicroImaging GmbH is a provider of instruments for Laser Microdissection developed by its wholly owned subsidiary PALM MicroLaser Technologies GmbH.

Laser microdissection is used to isolate and collect microscopic quantities of material from a specimen that has been mounted in a way that renders it visible under a light microscope (usually a thin and flat preparation on a glass microscope slide).

The predominant application of laser microdissection is in the field of biomedical science, with particular importance to the study of the molecular and genetic basis of human diseases.

Using a laser microdissection instrument the biomedical scientist is able to visualise cells or tissue that he or she believes to be related to a specific disease or medical condition. The material is dissected and collected by drawing around the outline of the desired region using a simple graphical user interface such as a digitised video image presented on the display of a computer.

Laser microdissection is sometimes called laser capture microdissection