Volume microscopy of hair

Acquisition of three-dimensional data of internal structures within hair shafts has significantly advanced our understanding of hair biology. This poster presents a summary of volume microscopy of hair using methods that have resolutions spanning micrometres to nanometres. Confocal microscopy has been used to study the mechanisms of hair curl. Electron tomography has been used to characterise different types of fundamental keratin filament structures in the hair cortex. The recently developed method of serial block face scanning electron microscopy automates serial sectioning and imaging at ultrastructural resolutions (to ~10 nm in hair). Single data volumes can include an entire hair’s cross-section and depths up to the millimetre range. The massive data sets produced require automated analysis methods such as machine learning approaches but provide a never-before-seen level of detail enabled by statistical analysis of structures.