LMD allows researchers to target a specific cell—or even chromosome—and excise it from the cells that surround it on a slide, or in some cases, on a culture dish.1 Researchers can use some LMD systems to destroy a particular cell in the midst of surrounding tissue of interest, a process referred to as negative selection. These instruments have other applications in microsurgery, microinjection, in vitro fertilization, and cell fusion research.
LMD dates to the 1970s, when researchers used lasers to trap and manipulate cells.1 In the mid-1990s, under the National Institutes of Health at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Cancer Institute, researchers developed the first LMD system as a research prototype. The NIH later worked in partnership with Mountain View, Calif.-based Arcturus Engineering, to develop a commercial system.2
The field has matured since that first venture, and modern LMD systems vary in the ...
