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Research and innovation

Zeiss LSM 880 with Airyscan

The Zeiss LSM 880 with Airyscan Fast is a confocal laser scanning microscope able to generate three-dimensional images of large specimens at super-resolution. The system consists of an inverted microscope suitable for live cell imaging as well as fixed samples.

The Airyscan system incorporates a novel spatial detector, the ‘Airyscan detector’, that increases spatial resolution 1.7x in each dimension (140 nm lateral and 400 nm axial resolution), achieves 4x faster temporal super-resolution imaging and requires 8x lower laser power while increasing the sensitivity, especially suited for dynamic life cell imaging. Due to the full environmental chamber to control temperature and CO2 this microscope is perfect for live cell imaging from plant tissue to mammalian cells as well as temperature sensitive studies.

  • Dynamic life cell imaging
  • Z sectioning and 3D reconstruction
  • Time series capture
  • Emission fingerprinting
  • Co –localisation studies
  • Airyscan spatial detector array for 1.7x increase in spatial resolution in each dimension (140 nm lateral and 400 nm axial resolution) compared to confocal -> super-resolution imaging
  • High sensitivity due to pin hole equivalent to 1.25 Airy units -> 4-8x lower laser power using Airyscan detector
  • Fast scanning speed using Airyscan Fast mode
  • Ability to control depth of field, elimination or reduction of background information
  • Capability to collect serial optical sections from thick/large specimen. Z-Piezo stage for fast z-stack acquisition
  • Imaging of multiple labels at the same time
  • Flexibility to detect samples with non-standard emission wavelengths

Axio observer 7 inverted stand

Objectives

  • PApo 10X/0.45 - dry
  • Plan-Apochromat 20X/0.8 - dry
  • C-Apochromat 40X/1.2 Corr - water
  • PApo 40X/1.3 - oil
  • C-Apochromat 63X/1.2 Corr - water
  • PApo 63X/1.4 - oil
  • Alpha Plan APO 100X/1.46 - oil

Laser lines

Laser Excitiation Lines (nm) Colour of fluorophores Examples of fluorophores
Blue diode 405 Blue DAPI / Alexa 350
Argon 453 / 488 / 514 Green / Cyan and Yellow GFP / Alexa 488 / FITC
He 543 561 Red DsRed / TagRFR / Alexa 568
He 633 633 Far-Red Alexa 633 / CY5
  • T-PMT transmitted light detector
  • 2 multi-alkali PMTs
  • 32 channel GaAsP PMT
  • Incubator XL with continuous temperature and CO2 feedback control for live cell work.
  • Off line LSM workstation