Light Microscopy

Imaging is a balance between speed and resolution. Different specimens are better suited to different microscopes. Accordingly we provide microscopes to match a wide variety of specimens from whole animals to individual cells, with different resolutions from organs to superresolution as well as different imaging speeds.

Sign up for a microscope introduction before you book one of our microscopes in the booking system Seshat for the first time.

Please contact our staff for more information and help to choose the right equipment.

  • Light sheet microscopy - Zebra fish head
  • Multiphoton microscopy - Pollen
  • Root hair

Zeiss AxioImager - Fluorescence Microscopy

The AxioImager is an upright microscope for fluorescence and transmitted light. It is equipped with filters covering the visible light, 400-720 nm. It has both a color and a monochrome camera for epifluorescent and bright field applications. Tile scanning is available to image large specimens. The Emission filters are suitable for e.g. DAPI, GFP, Cy3, and A647.   

For more information please contact jeremy.adler@igp.uu.se.

Zeiss Axio Scan.Z1 BF FL - Slide scanner

Scan up to 100 slides automatically. Fluorescence (4 wavelengths) or transmitted light:  5x, 10x, 20x or 40x objectives. Create a recipe for finding the tissue, focusing and then imaging – press start and walk away.

For more information contact Jeremy.adler@igp.uu.se

Zeiss LSM700 - confocal microscopy

The Zeiss LSM700 is a state of the art inverted confocal microscope with 4 lasers (405/488/555/633) , 2 fluorescence detectors and one for transmitted light. It provides higher resolution than widefield microscopy. With both oil, water and air objectives it suits different specimens and resolutions. Specimens like cells, zebra fish and organs can be imaged on slides, in petri dishes or on multiwell plates. The motorized stage with X, Y and Z movement, enables 3D datasets, tiling for imaging of large specimens and multiposition time-lapse imaging. The instrument is equipped for Live Cell Imaging, including incubator, temperature control, but not CO2.

Download the LSM700 manual

For more information please contact jeremy.adler@igp.uu.se.

Zeiss Elyra S.1 - SIM Super Resolution Microscopy

!!! THIS INSTRUMENT IS DISCONTINUED AND WILL BE SOLD !!!

When ordinary confocal resolution isn’t enough to reveal small structures in the sample, superresolution techniques can help to obtain higher resolution. Superresoulution techniques are breaking the conventional resolution limit for microscopes with special lasers, fluorophores or well-designed optical elements in the microscope lightpath. Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) is a superresolution technique where no special fluorophores and sample preparation is needed. Using a grid pattern illumination, the aperture for the used objective and therefore the resolution can be extended to a factor of 2-2.5. The resolution is sample dependent, the best achievable is around 100nm XY, and 300-400nm in Z.

Excitation lasers confocal: 405nm, 488nm, 561nm, 640nm

Excitation lasers SIM: 405nm, 488nm, 561nm, 640nm

Dye examples for confocal imaging: DAPI; GFP/AF488; Cy3/AF568; Cy5/AF647

Objectives: 10x/0.3; 20x/0.8; 40x/1.3 oil; 63x/1.4 oil

Download the SIM manual

For more information please contact matyas.molnar@igp.uu.se.  

STEDYCON - STED SUPER RESOLUTION MICROSCOPY

To take a next step in resolution, STED offers an enhanced resolution in the XY direction, up to 30-40nm. The Z resolution is unchanged, similar as for confocal imaging. The higer resolution is achieved by using a torus shape infrared depletion laser that can turn off special fluorophores in a selected XY area. Thus, for this technique special dyes are needed (se below) and for the best result users should follow good sample preparation routines for microscopy.

Excitation lasers: 405nm, 488nm, 561nm, 640nm; and STED depletion:775nm.

Dye examples for confocal imaging: DAPI; GFP/AF488; Cy3/AF568; Cy5/AF647.

Dye examples for STED: AF594/Abberior STAR 580-600; AF647/Abberior STAR RED.

Objectives: 100x/1.45 oil, WD: 0.13mm (for STED); 10x/0.3 air (for overview)

Download the STEDYCON manual

For more information please contact Matyas.Molnar@igp.uu.se

STED

LEICA SP8 DIVE - Multiphoton Microscopy

NOTE: We discontinued the ZEISS LSM710 NLO and installed the Leica SP8  DIVE system.

In many cases we need to look deeper in biological samples to see a bigger picture of the specimen and the surrounding biology. Multiphoton microscopy (synonyms: two-photon microscopy, nonlinear microscopy)  is a tool using short-pulsed high power infrared laser for penetrating deeper in biological samples as a normal confocal laser could. This tool can be very useful when deeper 3D imaging in necessary with limited photobleaching. The multiphoton system is a scanning imaging technique; therefore its limitation is speed.  For 3D rendering, Imaris is available at BioVis.

Multiphoton laser: 680 - 1300nm tunable line; 1045nm fixed line

Objectives water, n=1.33 (motorized corr. collar): HC IRAPO 25x/1.0; HC FLUOTAR L 16x/0.8

Objective clarity, n=1.45 (motorized corr. collar): HC FLUOTAR L 25x/1.00

Download the LEICA SP8 multiphoton manual

For more information please contact Matyas.Molnar@igp.uu.se

Last modified: 2022-10-07