Inverted Microscopes

An inverted microscope is a microscope with its light source and condenser on the top, above the stage pointing down, while the objectives and turret are below the stage pointing up.

Inverted microscopes are useful for observing living cells or organisms at the bottom of a large container (e.g., a tissue culture flask) under more natural conditions than on a glass slide, as is the case with a conventional microscope. An inverted microscope is also used for visualization of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria in the technique called microscopic observation drug susceptibility assay(MODS).

Inverted microscopes are used in metallurgical applications where polished samples can be placed on top of the stage and viewed from underneath using reflecting objectives.