Contact: Ning Chen, MD, Director of Microscopy and Pathology Core

The Nikon A1R Upright Multiphoton Microscope is a turn-key confocal, multiphoton platform for a large field-of-view, high-resolution and deep-tissue imaging of live or fixed specimens, including intravital studies. It combines a high-speed resonant scanner for fast dynamics with a galvano scanner for highest spatial resolution. Built on an FN1 upright body with a motorized XYZ stage and piezo Z drive for rapid z-stacks acquisitions, the system is equipped with four visible lasers (405/488/561/640 nm), a Coherent Discovery dual-beam IR laser for multiphoton excitation and GaAsP detector system. Seven objectives support a wide range of preparations. A high-end NIS-Elements acquisition workstation and a separate offline analysis workstation enable streamlined capture, 3D/4D visualization, and quantitative analysis. Additionally, the Nikon A1R can integrate with physiological monitoring systems, allowing real-time tracking of vital parameters such as heart rate or respiration during intravital imaging.

Our Nikon A1 Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope is a state-of-the-art Nikon A1 laser scanning confocal microscope (photo, right). This system is mounted on a customized, inverted, fully electronic, TE-2000E2 microscope body. This system offers unparalleled spatial resolution in the x, y, and z planes. There are four excitation lines of 405, 488, 561, and 640nm, which are driven by four (4), independent solid-state lasers (superior stability and longevity) mounted on an acousto-optic tuning filter (AOTF)-integrated laser launch.

The Keyence BZ-X810 is an inverted, automated fluorescence microscope designed for fast, reproducible imaging and analysis. With a Tokai Hit stage-top incubator, it supports long-term live-cell time-lapse. The system is equipped with six filter sets (range from 350 to 690 nm) and five objectives (4X to 100X). It captures fluorescence, brightfield, and phase-contrast images with auto focus/exposure, performs automated XYZ stitching for large tissue sections, and streamlines workflows via all-in-one acquisition and analysis software.

Our Bruker JPK NanoWizard 4 XP BioScience Atomic Force Microscope  employs state-of-the-art capabilities for interrogating tissue mechanics. The system has scanning rates up to 150 lines/sec and up to 100 µm scan range. This system is suitable for living cells/tissue and fresh tissue. The system can also perform automatic overlay with transmitted light images and fluorescence microscopy images. In addition, this AFM scan head can quickly be moved to other diascopic, confocal, or epifluorescent systems. Although this system is configured with a dedicated Zeiss microscope, the Bruker AFM scanhead could be redeployed to the Nikon A1 confocal or Nikon A1R multi-photon confocal system, as needed.

Full Pathology Suite  The Center has a complete Sakura pathology suite (automated processor and embedder), along with two Leica microtomes (with cold-clamps) and Leica cryostat. These, like all self-service elements in the Center, can be scheduled via the electronic scheduling system.