Electron microscopy (EM) revolutionized cell biology in the 1960s when it revealed details of cellular ultrastructure. Sections of cells were preserved well enough and cut thin enough to allow examination with the electron microscope at a resolution -100 x better than was possible by light microscopy. With improvements in light microscopes and the advent of genetically encoded fluorescent proteins during the past 20 years, however, EM has taken a backseat as fluorescence microscopy became the dominant method for studying cellular processes; this was due in part to light microscopy's ability to image the dynamic behavior of proteins in live cells.
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