Laser Capture Microdisection

This technology allows researchers to precisely dissect ("capture") single cells or groups of cells away from surrounding tissue. RNA can then be extracted from the captured cells permitting global expression profiling of specific cell types.

Co-PI Schnable's lab pioneered the coupling of LCM of plant cells to microarray analyses. See Nakazono, et al., Laser-Capture Microdissection, a Tool for the Global Analysis of Gene Expression in Specific Plant Cell Types: Identification of Genes Expressed Differentially in Epidermal Cells or Vascular Tissues of Maize, The Plant Cell, Vol. 15, 583-596, March 2003.

The project is currently using a PALM® Laser Microbeam instrument for LCM. A pulsed UV (337 nm) nitrogen laser beam is first focused through the objective lens to a less than 1 micrometer diameter beam spot that ablates the target without heating adjacent material. Then, Laser Pressure Catapulting, LPC, a high photonic pressure force, i s used to capture the target cells into the lid of a microfuge tube.