Spinning Disc Confocal Microscope
Spinning disk microscopy is an established imaging technique for imaging both dynamic and light-sensitive processes in living cells. The system uses the Yokogawa CSUX1 spinning disk head and is coupled with a CoolSNAP HQ2 CCD camera (Photometrics). It is capable of capturing high speed confocal data sets. The microscope employs a on stage heated environmental chamber with the ability to set, maintain and monitor temperature and CO2 levels as imaging conditions dictate. Equipped with a 2D-VisiFRAP Real-time Scanner this system is primed for FRAP and Photo-activation studies in combination with the advantage of capturing high speed confocal data sets. In addition the system is equipped with a Eppendorf micro injector to manipulate single cells using antibodies, dyes, drugs or siRNA within your sample.
- Live cell imaging
- Z sectioning
- Time series capture
- Co –localisation studies
- FRAP / Photo activation
- Injection of antibodies, dyes, drugs or siRNA into single cells
Advantage:
- this confocal technique allows acquisition of images at very high frame rates
- ideal for the observation of photo-sensitive specimens as the sample is irradiated quickly and with less intense laser light
- these qualities make Spinning Disk confocal microscopy particularly well suited to high speed 3D imaging of living
Disadvantage:
- most of the illumination light does not pass through the disk, and when this light is reflected by the disk surface, it can result in high background levels
Motorised inverted microscope (Olympus IX81)
Objectives
- UPlanFL N 10x / 0.3 Air
- UApo N 340 40x / 1.35 Oil
- UPlanSApo 60x / 1.35 Oil
- UPlanSApo 100x/1.40 Oil
Laser lines
| Laser | Excitiation Lines (nm) | Colour of fluorophores | Examples of fluorophores |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue diode | 405 | Blue | DAPI / Alexa 350 |
| 488 Solid State Lasers | 488 | Green | GFP / Alexa 488 / FITC |
| 561 Solid State Lasers | 561 | Red | mCherry / TagRFR / Alexa 568 |
- CSU-X1 Spinning Disc unit (Yokogawa)
- 2D-VisiFRAP Realtime Scanner (Visitron Systems)
- Dual Beam Splitter for simultaneous observation of green and red
- CoolSNAP HQ2 CCD camera
- Objective Piezo of 100µm range for high precession and fast Z sectioning
- Eppendorf micro injector
Spinning disk: Transient expression in tobacco leaf epidermal cells 2 days after infiltration
