FLuorescent frustules

[blepharopsis]

I got my hands on some sediment material collected off the coast of Namibia. It's full of diatom shells/frustules. I used this protocol to clean them: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/ind ... atoms.html and this one to stain them for confocal microscopy: https://www.protocols.io/view/simple-3d ... warning=no

In a nutshell, I conjugated poly-L-lysine with Cy3-NHS ester, and used this reagent to stain the diatom cell walls. Now that I have a way to stain biogenic silicates, I'd love to try it on other diatom species, and radiolaria as well! Does anyone know a good source (preferably online) of some loose radiolarians?? I'd be so grateful for any tips!

The images below were all taken with a 63x objective on Zeiss LSM 980. All depth color-coded projections with different LUTs.