Microscopic yeast analysis

[podz]

How many of you own or have access to a microscope that is capable of analysing yeast, i.e. capable of measuring the width and length of microns of a yeast cell?

Is an oil immersion lens required for this level of magnification, or will a dry lens do the trick?

The reason I am asking is that I am thinking of obtaining a microscope to do yeast strain comparisons, purely out of my own interest and desire for knowledge. I am obviously not a microbiologist, nor do I have any training in this area, but I am interested enough in the topic to have a go at it anyway. I don't have the available cash to buy a new lab-grade microscope, but I was thinking if I could get a decent 30-40 year old one for a few hundred bucks that might be ok.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[riderkb]

You can get a school grade scope with an oil lens for a couple hundred.

 

[podz]

You can get a school grade scope with an oil lens for a couple hundred.

Could you point me to a seller? Obviously, I'd need to get it shipped to Finland. I have one transformer for converting 220v down to 110v, so shouldn't be a problem to operate the lamp.

 

[Warthaug]

You will need a microscope with a 100x objective and, ideally, a 10x-20x ocular (the ocular is the part you look through, the magnifications multiply - e.g. a 100x objective + 20x ocular = 2000x system magnification) to get adequate magnification to see yeast morphology. An oil immersion lens will be superior to an air lens in terms of resolution, but unless you are taking pictures with a high-end camera, the difference in resolution will not make much of a difference.

The other thing you may wish to look for is phase contrast optics - I don't know if a school scope will have this, but if you can get a microscope with this you will have a much easier time observing your samples. Phase contrast increases the contrast between your samples and the background.

Lastly, a microscope with a built-in micrometer (often simple a scale drawn in the ocular) would also be useful, in that you'd have a way to measure the size of the yeast you are observing. This isn't necessarily a huge benefit, so if a choice were to boil down to phase contrast versus a micrometer, I'd go for the phase.

Bryan

 

[podz]

Thanks, Warthaug, that was an awesome answer with exactly the details that I need. Crystal clear.

 

[riderkb]

Could you point me to a seller? Obviously, I'd need to get it shipped to Finland. I have one transformer for converting 220v down to 110v, so shouldn't be a problem to operate the lamp.

I got an AmScope for my daughter. It works just fine for us and was only about $100. They have a lot of models to choose from, so I'm sure you could get what you need at a good price.

 

[olie]

(Sorry, I know this is an ancient thread. Posting for future searchers.)

In my post asking to verify what I'm seeing, I link a ~$265 microscope w/camera that I'm pretty happy with. Check it out:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/new-microscope-yeast-help-verify-what-im-seeing.673589/