ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how a new biophysicist obtains the insight to formulate an important biological hypothesis, to determine optimal experimental approaches, and to locate the needed facilities. Biomedical engineering or physics curricula are directed toward device and materials development, leaving some deficits in all the areas such as biology, chemistry, laser/optical, and computational and quantum physics. Crystallography can have 0.1 nm resolution, but it requires the construction of a crystal, which often requires hours to months. Video micro-imaging of bacteria and cells has been available to bioscientists for about forty years, the spatial resolution has been limited to about a micron and larger, and timescales of seconds or more. Spectral filters can be placed in the excitation and emission beam lines, allowing a separation of emission from excitation light and imaging of sample fluorescence. Most modern devices collect and store data in a specialized format, determined by the device manufacturer to be most convenient and efficient.
