Imaging Facility

Andor Dragonfly 400-SR Spinning Disk Confocal Microscope

The most recent addition to our facilty is the Andor Dragonfly 400 super-resolution spinning disk confocal system.  System features include dual microlens spinning disks, high power laser engine (HLE), Borealis uniform illumination, and 3D super-resolution module for single molecule localization microscopy (SMLM).  The system is equipped with two water-cooled, back-illuminated Sona sCMOS cameras.  There are four imaging lasers on the system: 405 nm, 488 nm, 560 nm, and 640 nm.  The Ti2 inverted microscope stand is equipped with an ASI piezo Z stage, 10X, 20X, 40X, 60X, and 100X objectives.

Nikon SoRa Spinning Disk Confocal Microscope

The Nikon SoRa super-resolution system was installed in November 2022.  The system features dual Yokogawa spinning disks and dual Prime BSI cameras.  The SoRa system has a 2.8X magnifier and a 4.0X magnifier.  There are four imaging lasers on the system: 405 nm, 488 nm, 561 nm, and 640 nm.  The Opti-Microscan X-Y scanner for photostimulation module has a 405 nm laser.  The Ti2 inverted microscope stand is equipped with an ASI piezo Z stage, 10X, 20X, 40X, 60X, and 100X objectives.

Nikon Spinning Disk Confocal Microscope

The Nikon Eclipse Ti-E microscope stand has a Yokogawa, two-camera, CSU-W1 spinning disk system with a Nikon LU-N4 laser launch that includes 405 nm, 488 nm, 561 nm, and 640 nm lasers.  The system has Photometrics Prime BSI sCMOS cameras.  The microscope stand has Perfect Focus and is equipped with an ASI MS-2000 motorized stage with a piezo Z-drive as well as a Tokai Hit stage-top incubation system.

This microscope is also equipped with an additional Andor Zyla camera for wide-field fluorescence and transmitted light imaging.

Andor Spinning Disk Confocal Microscope

The Andor W1 Spinning Disk Confocal is set up on a Nikon Eclipse Ti inverted microscope stand with Perfect Focus.  The system has six laser lines:  405 nm, 445 nm, 488 nm, 560 nm, 637 nm, and 685 nm.  Two Andor Zyla cameras allow for two channel simultaneous image capture.  The microscope has an ASI MS-2000 stage that provides fast, repeatable multi-positional imaging.  This microscope has a Tokai Hit stage-top incubator for live-cell imaging.  The system is equipped with an Andor Mosaic photoactivation and photobleaching system as well as a MicroPoint for laser ablation.

Zeiss LSM 880 Laser Scanning Confocal with AiryScan

The Zeiss LSM 880 has two multi-alkali photomultiplier tubes, a GaAsP detector, and a transmitted light detector.  The Airyscan provides another GaAsP detector that may be used in Airyscan mode or it can be used as a fourth fluorescence detector in confocal mode.  The system has six laser lines (405 nm, 458 nm, 488 nm, 514 nm, 561 nm, and 633 nm).  For live-cell imaging, the system has a motorized z-drive, an environmental chamber, and stage incubator for controlling temperature, humidity, and CO2.

Nikon A1R Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope

The Nikon A1R Si confocal microscope is set up on a Nikon Eclipse Ti inverted microscope stand.  The system has four laser lines (405 nm, 488 nm, 561 nm, and 640 nm), four photomultiplier tubes for fluorescence, a photomultiplier tube for transmitted light imaging, and a spectral detector.  In addition to the galvano scanner, the system has a resonant scanner and heated stage for live-cell imaging.  NIS Elements is used for multi-dimensional imaging and analysis.

Olympus FVMPE-RV Multiphoton Microscope

This system is set up on a BX63 upright microscope frame with a dual-line Insight 1040/680-1300nm laser and 458 nm diode laser.  It has a resonant scanner, encoded Prior z deck and objective piezo.  There are two multi-alkali photomultipliers and two, GaAsP detectors in the epi-light path as well as a forward detector.  The system is run with FluoView software.

Nikon TIRF Microscope

The Total Internal Reflected Fluorescence (TIRF) system is set up on a Nikon Ecliipse Ti microscope.  It has two Andor 897 EMCCD cameras, four laser lines (405 nm, 488 nm, 561 nm, and 640 nm) and a FRAP module. The system is run with NIS Elements.

Nikon Stereo Microscope

The Nikon SMZ1500 is equipped for wide-field fluorescence (GFP and mCherry).  The microscope has a Spot Insight color camera with Spot software.

Arivis Vision 4D Workstation

This image analysis workstation features Arivis Vision 4D software.  This software allows for visualization of 2D, 3D, and 4D image data sets.  It works with most image formats and can easily manage large data sets.  It may be used for rendering, stitching, alignment, and data analysis (including cell segmentation, tracking, annotations, quantitative measurements, and statistics).

NIS Elements Workstation

The facility has a dedicated NIS Elements analysis workstation.

In addition to the standard NIS Elements features, this workstation is also set up for deconvolution and is equipped with ImageJ.

ZEN BLUE, ZEN BLACK, and NIS ELEMENTS Workstation

This image analsysis workstation is equipped with Zen Blue, Zen Black, and NIS Elements.

This workstation is also equipped with ImageJ.

Imaris Quant Workstation

The Imaris Quant software can be used for visualization and analysis of 2D, 3D, and 4D image data sets.  Visualisation and processing features include high resolution snapshots, creation of multidimensional animations, and advanced isosurface rendering of objects within images. The Imaris Quant software package allows for the identification and quantification objects within images via traditional intensity-based and AI-based methods.