Whether due to illness, weather, safety, or other concerns, it is very difficult for biology students to gather meaningful and timely data without access to campus. This has been especially evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, in which most laboratory exercises have been conducted as a simulation. Simulated experiments provide a stopgap for certain courses, but for upper-level and research courses, they are often insufficient. Many new microscopy tools now on the market can be adapted to allow students to generate and analyze novel data with little aid from instructors. Remote brightfield-based systems like the CytoSMART Lux2 can be used to gather real-time insight into the progression of cell growth, cell migration, and cell viability over time. The data from these systems can be viewed via the Internet or downloaded for later analysis. Confocal microscopy also offers unique remote-learning opportunities. Because these fluorescence-based microscopes are controlled almost exclusively by a computer, free "remote desktop" software can allow students to learn how to use this cutting-edge technology and can also allow for the generation and analysis of novel data. While these systems can be expensive, they offer a variety of benefits for undergraduate students and researchers, whether they are in the laboratory or working remotely.

中文翻译：

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尖端显微镜系统作为面向本科生的远程教学和研究工具。

无论是由于疾病，天气，安全还是其他原因，生物学学生都很难在不进入校园的情况下收集有意义的及时数据。这在COVID-19大流行期间尤为明显，在该大流行中，大多数实验室练习都是作为模拟进行的。模拟实验为某些课程提供了权宜之计，但对于高级课程和研究课程而言，它们往往是不足的。现在市场上许多新的显微镜工具都可以进行调整，以允许学生在教师的很少帮助下就可以生成和分析新颖的数据。基于远程明场的系统（例如CytoSMART Lux2）可用于实时了解细胞生长，细胞迁移和细胞存活力随时间的变化情况。这些系统中的数据可以通过Internet查看或下载以供以后分析。共聚焦显微镜还提供了独特的远程学习机会。由于这些基于荧光的显微镜几乎完全由计算机控制，因此免费的“远程桌面”软件可以使学生学习如何使用这一尖端技术，还可以生成和分析新颖的数据。尽管这些系统可能很昂贵，但它们为本科生和研究人员提供了各种好处，无论他们是在实验室还是在远程工作。