Optical Microscopy for Biology presents an up-to-date, comprehensive description of new methods in optical microscopy for observing cellular structure and function at the level of single intact cells or tissue. Contributors cover confocal microscopy and optional sectioning of cells, fluorophores and characterization of various fluorescent probes and detector characterization. They also discuss a number of applications to current biological problems. In addition, Optical Microscopy for Biology includes a preview of the latest advances and newest developments in the technology of optimal microscopy, including four-dimensional miscroscopy, multiparameter and multimode digitized video microscopy, digitized fluorescence polarization, and near field microscopy.