Confocal Microscopy on the Internet

In a few short years, the Internet (in terms of the World Wide Web) has become a powerful informational resource for the original scientific literature pertaining to biological investigations using the laser scanning confocal microscope. However, there still remains an obvious void in the development of educational Web sites targeted at beginning students and novices in the field. Furthermore, many of the commercial aftermarket manufacturers (for example, those offering live-cell imaging chambers) have Web sites that are not adequately represented in published compilations, and are therefore somewhat difficult to locate. In order to address this issue, several educational sites dedicated to optical microscopy and digital imaging that are being constructed and hosted at The Florida State University are currently turning their attention to the increasing application of confocal microscopy in the biological and materials sciences. The primary focus of this effort is to create new sections on the existing sites that address the important educational issues in confocal microscopy, as well as creating indices of links to both the confocal scientific literature and the Web sites of manufacturers who supply useful accessories.