The confocal microscope, Carl Zeiss LSM 880 Airyscan, consists of an inverted microscope outfitted with six objectives, 2.5x, 5x, 10x, 20x, 40x (1.3 NA Oil) and 63x (1.4 NA Oil), six lasers, 405 (blue), 458 (blue), 488 (cyan), 514 (green), 561 (green) and 633 nm (red), three fluorescence emission detectors and one transmission detector. One fluorescence detector is a gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) detector, which is significantly more sensitive than conventional photo-multiplier tubes (PMTs), making it ideal for low SNR samples. Airyscan mode allows for superresolution imaging, which provides greater resolution in x, y and z.
The instrument is suitable for three-color co-localization with minimized spectral overlap, overlay of fluorescence onto bright-field images, tiling of images, 3D reconstruction, Fluorescence Recovery After Photo-bleaching (FRAP), and Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET). Further, the instrument supports microfluorometic measurements including programmed time-lapse imaging, ratio-metric imaging of pH and Ca2+ sensitive dyes, and line scans for fast events such as Ca2+ sparks.
The Carl Zeiss LSM 880 is outfitted with a temperature-controlled 8-line superfusion setup for live-tissue microfluorometry including pH and Ca2+ measurements in conjunction with fast solution changes at 37 C.
Access:
Projects are initiated by a meeting of the user, principal investigator, Core Director and Core Manager. Contact Mr Joel Sanneman.
The Core provides individual training.
Trained users coordinate instrument use via the Scheduler.
