Equipment
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LSM980 Confocal Microscope :-
The available LSM980 Confocal system comes with an inverted Axio Observer 7 microscope and is equipped with 7 laser lines of excitation wavelengths: 405 nm, 445 nm, 488 nm, 514 nm, 561 nm, 594 nm and 639 nm. Images are acquired using the Zen 3.1 Blue software. The system can be used to image samples on glass slides mounted on coverslips, glass-bottom multi-well plates, glass-bottom 35 mm petri-dishes and Labtek chamber slides. Cells and thin tissue sections stained with standard fluorophores can be viewed. With the confocal system, one can obtain a lateral resolution of 200 nm and axial resolution of 500 nm. For optimal results, it is advisable to have section thickness of less than 50 µm. Samples on multi-well plates and petri-dishes made of plastic or other polymers cannot be viewed in this microscope. Only confocal grade glass slides, cover slips, plates and dishes are to be used; cover slips mandatorily must be of 1 or 1.5 number with approximately 0.17 mm thickness.
Airyscan 2 for semi super-resolution Imaging :
Airyscan 2 is available with the LSM980 Confocal system for semi super-resolution imaging. With the Airyscan 2 system, one can obtain a lateral resolution of around 140 nm and axial resolution of around 400 nm. This module is not to be used for any routine fluorescence/ confocal imaging but only for capturing high quality representative images. The sample preparation protocol remains the same as that for confocal imaging. The laser lines and the sample types that can be imaged remain the same.
Environment Controller (with temperature, CO2 and O2 control) and Stage Incubator for live-cell imaging
Live-cell imaging at present can be performed only with cells grown on 35 mm glass-bottom dishes. The temperature and gas modules enable setting of the desired temperature and gas concentrations – CO2 and N2 (for hypoxia) experiments. With future system upgrades, it will be possible to perform live-imaging on 6, 12, 24, 48 and 96-well glass bottom plates.
