today's compound microscope

[MicroInspector]

A question to be asked
With today's modern microscopes can the common cold virus
can be seen with compound microscope ?
Or you will need a electron microscope?

[gekko]

Whatever happened to the feather that you were going to show us a photomicrograph of?

[MicroInspector]

I am in the process of moving.
How ever I also got a little spider
Been thinking how to put it on the slide.

[billbillt]

A virus is too small to see with a light microscope.. It requires an electron microscope.

[MicroInspector]

So Even Smaller Than Bacteria

[billbillt]

yes

[MicroInspector]

I wonder how they make a virus culture and slice it?

[billbillt]

i have never heard of a sliced virus.. a virus would not need to be sliced.. a TEM will see through it.

[Tom Jones]

Viruses are cultured in living cells such as HeLa, or another cell line. The cells themselves, with the virus still inside, and/or the virus particles themselves after exiting the cells, are then embedded in some form of epoxy. The epoxy block is sliced very, very thin (less than 100 nm ) with an ultramicrotome and the sections stained to provide contrast with a material like osmium or uranyl acetate. Viruses will be sliced if they are in embedded material. If they are simply deposited on the grid (EM version of a slide) and stained, no sectioning is done so they will not be sliced.

[MicroInspector]

Well that answers question
Has anyone seen the movie called The Andromeda Strain?

[mrsonchus]

Life's too short.

[MicroInspector]

what does that mean?
I would think you might saw that movie. ...

[Oktagon]

What Tom Jones said.

You can also use SEM and look at cells full of viral particles to study topography. The only time you can use light microscopy to detect viruses (not observe them directly) is if you use florecently labeled antibody and if you have high viral load in your culture, you will see it using florecent or LCM scope.