September Newsletter

Welcome to the CAIC monthly newsletter. The purpose of this newsletter is to keep the community informed in current developments and events in fluorescence and electron microscopy. Please forward this email to colleagues that would be interested but may not have subscribed to our mailing list. The list can be subscribed to here: https://lists.cam.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/bio-caic

Light Sheet Microscope

CAIC’s first light sheet microscope is now available. The system has been designed and built by CAIC and is in an ‘up right’ configuration – both excitation and detection objectives are dipped into the sample container from above. The microscope has both single and two-photon excitation capabilities – please see our light sheet webpage for specifications and some examples of use.

1st imaging session is performed at no cost to provide proof-of-concept imaging, this includes consultation on sample suitability and preparation. These sessions will result in datasets that can be used to assess the applicability of the microscope for the user's research project. Thereafter the system can be booked for £30/hour with rebated cost of £20/hour for longer (> 6 hours) sessions. These costs include staff assistance and training.

If you would like to access to this instrument and learn more about light sheet imaging in CAIC please contactMartin Lenz

Two-photon scanning microscope - TriM Scope II (LaVision BioTec)

CAIC has a TriM Scope II in a dedicated 2-photon imaging room. The microscope light source is an Insight DeepSee tunable laser which has a tunable line from 680-1300nm with more than 1W average power across the range and a fixed laser line at 1040nm (600mW). Using these two laser lines in combination we can efficiently, and simultaneously, excite a wide variety of fluorescent probe combinations. The microscope is equipped with 4 sensitive detectors (GaAsP and Hybrid detectors) for linear scanning and 2 sensitive detectors for resonant scanning. Please see our 2-photon microscope webpage for specifications and some examples of use.

Again, the 1st imaging session is performed at no cost to provide proof-of-concept imaging. Thereafter the system can be booked for £35/hour with rebates available for longer (> 6 hours) sessions.

If you would like arrange training please contact Kevin O'Holleran

FEI Verios Scanning Electron Microscope

CAIC's new FEI Verios XHR SEM is now fully operational and available for training. Please contact Jeremy Skepper for more information on our SEM and TEM Electron Microscopes.

Leica TCS SP8 Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope

CAIC now houses a new Leica TCS SP8 confocal microscope. The system is equipped with 5 detectors (2 x GaAsP, 2 x PMT, 1x transmitted light PMT), motorised stages for multi-position and tile scanning, 7 laser lines spanning 405nm - 633nm and the option to use a resonant scanner for fast imaging. Please contact Kevin O'Holleran for further information.

Image analysis tutorials

CAIC is organising a series of image analysis tutorials. The first will be introduction to image processing in Matlab. These tutorials will take the form of small groups (~6 people). Please contact Leila Muresan to express interest.

Formation of a user committee

We are establishing a user committee to enable efficient feedback from the community. This committee's scope will be to provide recommendations for both improving day-to-day operations and directions of future developments. If you are interested in becoming a part of this committee please contact Kevin O'Holleran.