Laser capture microdissection of FFPE tissue sections bridging the gap between microscopy and molecular analysis

Abstract

Laser capture microdissection (LCM) enables researchers to combine structure identification by -microscopy with structure investigation by modern molecular techniques.The main question in modern biomedical research is the understanding of cellular and molecular mechanisms. The methods to investigate pathological changes on a molecular, cellular, or tissue level become more and more exact, whereas at the same time the sample amounts available become smaller and smaller.The challenge in microscopy is the identification of structures or molecules. Today, scientists are no longer satisfied with just observing tissues and cells. They demand the ability to get access to the identified structures to bring their observations to the subcellular and genetic level. Downstream to microscopy the full toolbox of molecular biology for DNA, RNA, and protein analysis has to be applied.