Questions for quiz on cell biology and advanced microscopy techniques.

1) In your lab, you grow Hela cells to use in various experiments. These cells grow attached to
the bottom surface of plastic flasks containing liquid growth medium. Which microscope do you
need to monitor your cell cultures? Chose the best.

A. Upright light microscope

B. Inverted light microscope
C. Confocal fluorescent microscope
D. Electron microscope

2) Which of the following electron microscopy techniques is not practical to obtain a three-
dimensional representation of the observed object?

A. Scanning electron microscopy

B. Transmission electron microscopy
C. Cryo-EM tomography

3) Which structure is present in eukaryotic cells and not in prokaryotic cells?

A. Ribosomes
B. DNA
C. Cell membrane
D. Membrane enclosed organelles

4) What is GFP?

A. A dye used to stain DNA for fluorescence microscopy

B. A fluorescence protein used to tag proteins of interest in cells
C. A type of powerful electron microscope
D. A structural feature of prokaryotic cells

5) What are antibodies used for in microscopy?

A. Because they specifically bind a defined target, antibodies can be chemically labeled and
used to detect specific molecules in fluorescence microscopy
B. Because they are very small, antibodies are used to calibrate electron microscopes
C. Because antibodies are generated by the immune system, they are used as non-specific
stains for bacteria.

6) Which technique in fluorescence microscopy generates images of specific planes across your
sample and allows for 3-D reconstruction?

A. Electron fluorescence microscopy

B. Transmission fluorescence microscopy
C. Confocal fluorescence microscopy
D. Planar fluorescence microscopy
7) Which techniques allow the observation of living cells?
#1- light microscopy, #2- fluorescence microscopy, #3-scanning electron microscopy, #4-
transmission electron microscopy

A. #1 only
B. #1 and #2
C. #1, #2 and #3
D. All

8) Which techniques allow the direct observation of viruses (without any label)?
#1- light microscopy, #2- fluorescence microscopy, #3-scanning electron microscopy, #4-
transmission electron microscopy

A. #4 only
B. #4 and #3
C. #4, #3 and #2
D. All

9) Which techniques allow the observation of fixed bacteria (any staining or labeling of the
sample is allowed)?
#1- light microscopy, #2- fluorescence microscopy, #3-scanning electron microscopy, #4-
transmission electron microscopy

A. #1 only
B. #1 and #2
C. #1, #2 and #3
D. All

10) Which is not a type of fluorophores suitable for fluorescence microscopy?

A. Fluorescent proteins
B. Synthetic small fluorescent molecule
C. Chemically labeled antibodies
D. Heavy metals (e.g. gold)