Imaging protein trafficking

The need to understand complex intracellular trafficking mechanisms from both a basic and disease-oriented perspective has stimulated considerable interest in the development of real-time microscopy tools. Recent advances in instrumentation and the development of molecular bioprobes, such as green fluorescent protein and its derivatives, have opened up a new era in our ability to perform close to real-time imaging of cellular events with high spatial and temporal resolution, and with high sensitivity. This review briefly introduces and discusses some of the systems and methodologies that are available from several manufacturers, including laser scanning and spinning disk confocal microscopy, and total internal reflectance microscopy.