LAB 01Open access
Light & fluorescence microscopy
Follow the light path, acquire images, and diagnose focus, signal and sampling problems.
Planned extensionsPolarized light · Light-sheet · Super-resolutionComing soon
LearnA journey into the unseen
Small worlds.
Infinite wonder.
There is an extraordinary world
just beyond your sight.
Meet JANA. Your guide to the unseen.
Explore with preset guidance and optional AI in the labs. Meet JANA.
01 / POROUS MICROSTRUCTUREIllustrative artwork · not a measured specimen
Scroll to change your perspective MICRO → NANO → POSSIBILITY
01 / Change your perspective
How small is small?
Five stops through scale.
A different way to see at every step.
JANA / SCALE NOTES
A cellular perspective.
A cell contains a world of structures. Fluorescence helps distinguish selected features by the light they emit.
Explore light & fluorescence ↗These are comparative illustrations, not a continuous microscope zoom or measurements from a specimen.
Loading the 3D view when it comes into view. You can explore scale using the controls.
02 / Make a discovery
A little focus.
A different world.
Move through a fluorescent specimen. Separate its channels. Notice what appears—and what disappears.
JANA asks
When a feature disappears, has it gone—or are you looking at a different depth?
A little focus changes everything.TRY IT
CONFOCAL / SYNTHETIC CELLSZ 0.0 µm0 µm3 µm
Move through depth. Watch structures sharpen, soften, or leave the optical section.
Same XY field · fixed display scale · synthetic teaching preview
01 Explore the instrument02 Practise with purpose03 Understand the image
03 / Follow the light
A microscope you can explore.
Open the shutter. Follow the light.
See what each component does.
Explore the LFM simulator’s interactive microscope.
Loads on demand. Drag to orbit; view controls are also available.
The fluorescence journey
- 01Light source & shutter
- 02Excitation filter & dichroic
- 03Objective & specimen
- 04Returning emission & detector
Generic teaching model adapted from the LFM simulator. Geometry and light paths are simplified; motion is enlarged for learning. This homepage preview does not capture images or change your lab session.
MICROSCOPY CONCEPTS / FIVE GUIDED LESSONS
Make the invisible understandable.
Learn with JANA.
Experiment. Compare. Explain.
START HERE / INTRODUCTORY EXPERIENCE
What Is Microscopy—and Why Use It?
Meet a world smaller than a strand of hair. Rotate 3D models, turn light into an image, and discover which microscope answers your question. JANA guides you from the very beginning.
Make your first discoverySCALE → SIGNAL → DISCOVERY
Look closer.
Understand why.
Close a shutter and the detector goes dark. Bring a specimen into focus. Compare light, electrons and a scanning tip. Every interaction explains a principle.
EXPLORE / ONE SPECIMEN, DIFFERENT MICROSCOPES
One tiny shell. Four different discoveries.
Follow the same region of a diatom’s silica shell through LM, SEM, AFM and TEM. Watch light, electrons and a scanning tip reveal different evidence, then prepare a thin section to look through its wall.
Explore the diatomPATTERN / SURFACE / HEIGHT / SECTION
Same region.
A different question.
Move the SEM detector. Change the AFM tip. Discover why a brighter pixel is not a height measurement—and why specimen preparation matters.
LESSON 01
Magnification versus Resolution
Follow the light in 3D. Enlarge two fluorescent points, open the objective aperture, and discover what actually reveals detail.
Start lesson 01SAME 300 nm PAIR / 520 nm EMISSION
NA 0.40793 nmNA 1.20264 nm
A smaller Rayleigh reference distance means closer features can meet the criterion. Display zoom alone leaves it unchanged.
LESSON 02
Focus and Depth of Field
Move through a 3D fluorescent specimen. Find a sharp plane, trade depth for detail, and collect the layers a single image misses.
Start lesson 02SAME SPECIMEN / AIR / 520 nm
NA 0.258.32 µmNA 0.800.81 µm
A wider numerical aperture makes the diffraction depth reference thinner. Explore which layers stay near focus, and which contribute blurred light.
LESSON 03
Calibration, Scale Bars & Measurement
Turn image pixels into specimen dimensions. Calibrate a 3D micrometer slide, measure a fibre, and correct the error caused by an objective change.
Start lesson 03ONE 30 µm FIBRE / TWO CALIBRATIONS
Wrong scale60 µmMatched scale30 µm
The specimen did not grow. Discover why calibration must match the objective and camera setup before reporting a measurement.
LESSON 04
Illumination & Contrast
Follow excitation and emission in 3D. Compare exposure and spectral selection, reveal camera clipping, and rescue an overexposed fluorescence image.
Start lesson 04SAME FOCUSED SPECIMEN / DIFFERENT COLLECTION
Broad0.39Selective0.64
Relative contrast S/(S+B) at 30% excitation and 300 ms in this teaching model. More exposure alone leaves the ratio unchanged.
LESSON 05 / NEW
Sampling & Digital Images
Discover when more pixels help. Follow the image onto a named 3D detector, expose aliasing, compare binning and test what digital enlargement can really reveal.
Start lesson 05SAME 40× OBJECTIVE / 6.5 µm CAMERA PIXELS
4 × 4 binning0.650 µm/pxNative pixels0.1625 µm/px
At NA 0.75 and 520 nm, the ideal widefield sampling target is at most 0.1733 µm per specimen pixel. Screen enlargement leaves sampling unchanged.
YOUR FIRST INDEPENDENT EXPERIMENT / NEW
Put the four concepts to work
Choose an objective, find focus, capture fluorescent beads, verify the scale and report a measured distance. JANA guides your first attempt; independent mode saves feedback until submission.
Start the LFM experimentFROM CONCEPT TO EVIDENCE
One image.
Every decision matters.
Your submitted record preserves the captured image, optical settings, calibration, measurement and explanation. Revisit the lessons whenever you need a refresher.
All five lessons offer guided experiments, research notes and a record saved in your browser. Continue in the public LFM laboratory to practise.
YOUR NEXT DISCOVERIES
Coming next in microscopy.
Five lessons are ready above. Here is where we plan to go next.
Detectors, Noise & Exposure
Discover why a brighter image is not always better: follow photons into pixels and explore noise, gain, saturation and dynamic range.
Lenses & Image Formation
Follow light through focal planes and objectives to distinguish magnification from useful detail.
Aberrations & Corrections
Recognize spherical and chromatic aberration and distortion, then explore how corrections change the image.
Wavelength, Frequency & Energy
Travel through the electromagnetic spectrum and compare the roles of light and electron wavelengths in microscopy.
Interactions with Matter
Explore absorption, scattering, fluorescence and electron–specimen interactions to understand where microscope signals come from.
Choosing a Microscopy Method
Match a scientific question to LFM, AFM, SEM/FIB, TEM or optical profilometry by comparing what each can measure.
These experiences are planned and are not yet available. Release dates will be shared when confirmed.
04 / From curiosity to practice
Explore the virtual labs.
One place to learn, practise
and understand your measurements.
LAB 02Open access
Atomic force microscopy
Scan a surface and connect probe shape and feedback settings to the measured image.
LearnLAB 03Open access
SEM / FIB microscopy
Explore electron imaging, ion milling and virtual lamella preparation.
LearnLAB 04Open access
Transmission electron microscopy
Explore the column, specimen loading, beam alignment and image formation.
LearnLAB 05Open access
Optical profilometry
Reconstruct a surface from interference signals and measure step height.
LearnAll online laboratories are free to use, with no MVLscope account required. Optional live AI voice and chat need your own OpenAI API key and may incur OpenAI charges. About JANA and AI usage. Each lab opens in another tab so you can keep your current work. Assessments are available only where implemented; other labs include guided checks and review questions.
FUTURE LABORATORIES / PLANNED
More ways to explore.
We plan to expand MVLscope with labs for chemical mapping, internal 3D structure and atomic-scale surface imaging.
What is it made of?
Explore how Raman spectra identify materials and reveal where different chemical components occur across a specimen.
What is hidden inside?
Learn how X-ray projections combine into a 3D volume to reveal internal structures, pores and defects without cutting the specimen open.
What does an atomic surface reveal?
Explore scanning tunnelling microscopy: how tunnelling current reveals atomic-scale detail and surface electronic structure on conducting and semiconducting materials.
These laboratories are planned and are not yet available. No release dates have been announced.
05 / New perspectives
The frontier keeps moving.
Selected research, 2024–2025.
New ideas are changing what we can observe.
Make the specimen bigger.
A single expansion step enlarged preserved cells and tissues about twentyfold in each dimension, revealing nanoscale biological details with conventional confocal microscopes.
Read the research — Single-shot 20-fold expansion microscopy, Nature MethodsNature Methods · Expansion microscopySee more. Expose less.
Rapid electron scanning and computational reconstruction revealed atomic details at fragile perovskite edges, showing what carefully controlled electron dose can make possible.
Read the research — Atomically resolved edges and defects in lead halide perovskites, NatureNature · Low-dose electron imagingA small change in balance.
A seesaw-shaped probe separated mechanical hinges from its reflective surface, improving deflection sensitivity and capturing proteins and DNA structures in liquid.
Read the research — Seesaw cantilevers for high-speed AFM, Nature CommunicationsNature Communications · Probe designThese are published research advances. They are not claims that MVLscope reproduces these methods.
Your next discovery starts with a question.
Stay curious.
Look closer.
JANA guides your journey with preset explanations and optional AI conversations in the labs. How JANA works.
JANA / DISCOVERY WINDOW
What would you look for?
01 / FLUORESCENCESYNTHETIC CELLS
What becomes easier to distinguish when you separate the signals?
Choose a channel to follow DNA or actin labels through the same synthetic cell field.
Illustrative cell outlines · not a measured specimen.
PASS ON A MOMENT OF DISCOVERY
A better question starts
with something you can try.
Share a lesson with a student, colleague or instructor. Invite them to change one control and explain what happens.