Nikon TIRF / Spinning Disk
This system is built around two imaging technologies; Total Internal reflectance Fluorescence Microscopy (TIRF microscopy) and Spinning Disk confocal Microscopy.
Spinning disk microscopy is an established imaging technique of choice for imaging both dynamic and light-sensitive processes in living cells. The system utilises the Yokogawa CSU10 spinning disk head and coupled with either a Hamamatsu Orca AG CCD camera or Photometrics Evolve 512 EMCCD camera, is capable of capturing both high resolution (Orca AG, 1344 x 1024) or high speed (Photometrics Evolve 512 >50fps) confocal data sets.
Both cameras can also be used to capture images illuminated by TIRF. Although not confocal imaging, TIRF microscopy improves the image signal to noise ratio by restricting penetration of the excitation light into the specimen. This technique is particularly useful for monitoring processes that happen within a couple of hundred nanometers from the coverslip media interface.
The microscope employs hardware focal drift correction and is fully-enclosed in a darkened, heated environmental chamber with the ability to set, maintain and monitor temperature, humidity, CO2 and O2 levels as imaging conditions dictate.
The system is run through Nikon’s versatile Elements software package and incorporates wizards to perform common imaging tasks such as FRAP, FRET and colocalisation as well as data quantification.
Specifications
Imaging modes: Multipoint x,y with tiling (2D), volume x,y,z (3D), fluorescence, DIC, time-lapse x,y,z,t (4D), TIRF.
Objectives: 100x (oil, 1.3), 63 x (TIRF 1.49, oil), 40x (oil, 1.3), 40x (ELWD 0.6 air), 20x (air, 0.75), 10x (0.3)
Laser Lines: 457nm, 476nm, 488nm, 514nm, 561nm, 594nm.
Location
Bio-Imaging Unit, Room M2.141, William Leech Building, Medical School
