Facilities / Services

Introduction to Laser Capture Microdissection

Laser capture microdissection (LCM) has become an important tool in biological research, permitting the isolation of single cells, or group of cells, from a heterogeneous population of cells; LCM is also sufficiently precise to isolate chromosomes. LCM technique allows accurate profiling of cells, often obscured in samples prepared by other methods, where heterogeneous cell populations are unavoidably present.

Our core facility uses the PALM (Positioning Ablation Laser Micro beam) Laser Catapult from Carl Zeiss, which combines LCM and Laser Pressure Catapulting (LPC). In this non-contact isolation method, single cells or groups of cells are catapulted into the sample tube by photonic pressure force. Since LCM does not damage the morphology of the collected cell or the tissue around it, the slide may be stored or used for other purposes. Several different cells populations could be collected from the same slide. LCM can be performed on frozen and fixed tissue samples, including blood smears, cytological preparations, cell cultures and aliquots of solid tissue. LCM/LPC is compatible with various cytological and immuno-staining techniques.

Once the cells of interest have been isolated, a variety of analytical techniques can be applied, such as MALDI mass spectrometry, two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, Western blotting, quantitative and RT PCR, DNA microarrays, or mutation analysis. Combinations of these techniques make the analyses even more powerful.

To learn more about LCM: www.palm-microlaser.com

The core is located on the 7th Floor of the Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Pediatric Research Center in room 706.

Staff

Neal A. Rubinstein, MD, PhD – Core Director
E-mail: nrubinst@mail.med.upenn.edu

Olga Lozynska, MSc – To schedule an appointment or consultation, please e-mail: lozynska@mail.med.upenn.edu

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