The ABBE offers you a wide range of different instruments for your research. From the conventional widefield and confocal microscopes to the super-resolution microscopes, you can select the best equipment for your experiments.
The ABBE offers you a wide range of different instruments for your research. From the conventional widefield and confocal microscopes to the super-resolution microscopes, you can select the best equipment for your experiments.
Confocal Microscopes
Applications:
- Optical-sectioning for high-contrast images of thick samples, otherwise affected by out-of-focus blur
- Highly corrected objective lenses suited to colocalisation studies of multi-channel data
- Motorised stage and Z-drive for semi-automated multi-dimensional acquisitions including Z-stacks and tilescans at multiple positions
- Multi-immersion lens and compensation correction for signal loss in depth for high quality 3D data of thick tissues
- Water dipping lens for live timelapse acquisitions
- Bleach capabilities for fluorescence recovery studies
Zeiss LSM 880, Laser scanning confocal microscope - The Zeiss LSM 880 is an inverted confocal laser-scanning microscope that allows you to optically section fluorescent samples for high-contrast images of thick specimens at high resolution. The laser scanning unit contains a filter-free spectral separation module allowing you to specify any wavelength detection range between 400-700 nm freely. For excitation, the system is equipped with lasers from violet to far-red: 405, 458, 488, 514, 561 and 633 nm.
In addition to a T-PMT detector for brightfield acquisitions, the system is equipped with two standard PMT detectors and a QUASAR spectral GaAsP detector that can be further divided into up to eight sub-detectors.
In addition, the LSM 880 has AiryScan capability for extended resolution applications. This technology makes it possible to reach lateral and axial resolutions of 140 nm and 400 nm respectively by creating a 0.2AU virtual pinhole for maximum resolution while maintaining a light collection efficiency of a 1.25AU pinhole.
Applications:
- Optical sectioning capability for imaging thick tissues without signal contaimination from out-of-focus blur
- Highly corrected optics and up to 10 detectors for fast multi-dimensional colocalisation experiments
- Timelapse capability and full incubation for live cell imaging
- Bleach capabilites for recovery studies of protein dynamics
- AiryScan for super-resolution experiments when sub-cellular detail is needed
Lightsheet Microscope
Zeiss Lightsheet Z.1, Lightsheet microscope - The Zeiss Lightsheet Z.1 is a light sheet fluorescence microscope able to image optical sections of large samples at a sub-cellular resolution and very fast rates, with very little excitation power. This minimises phototoxicity and photobleaching, allowing three-dimensional imaging of whole organisms over long time periods and fast acquisition of large fixed and cleared samples.
The optical sectioning is achieved without a pinhole by splitting fluorescence excitation and detection into two separate light paths where the axis of illumination is perpendicular to the axis of detection. A thin sheet of light illuminates only the in-focus plane of the sample and fluorescence emission is captured on a high-speed and highly sensitive sCMOS camera (dual PCO. Edge cameras with up to 30 fps speed). Unlike laser scanning confocal systems, there is no need for pixel-by-pixel acquisition, allowing you to collect images faster and with less excitation light than you would with many other optical-sectioning microscopy techniques.
With this system you can image both living samples in aqueous media or fixed samples where tissue clearing has been performed. Samples are mounted not on coverslips but inside special chambers that additionally provide fine temperature control to maintain organism health during live time-lapse experiments.
Applications:
- Fast three-dimensional imaging of thick live samples in aqueous media using very low excitation power
- Well-suited to long time-lapse experiments with live drosophila and zebrafish
- Fast three-dimensional imaging of large fixed and cleared fluorescent samples such as tissue sections, brains, embryos, spheroids or biopsies
- Imaging large samples stained with highly light-sensitive fluorophores
Widefield Microscopes
Zeiss AxioImager M2, Widefield fluorescence scanning microscope - The Zeiss AxioImager M2 is a fully motorized upright widefield microscope suitable for semiautomated fluorescence and brightfield imaging. The system is equipped with high-efficiency fluorescence filter sets and an HXP 120V metal-halide lamp for fluorescence excitation, enabling multi-channel image capture with the monochrome CCD camera (Zeiss AxioCam MRm).
The Axioimager M2 motorised stage and Z-drive allow large samples to be imaged in three-dimensions using tiled scans that are stitched within the software workflow. As a widefield microscope, the Zeiss AxioImager.M2 is suited only to three-dimensional imaging of thin samples.
Applications:
- Motorised stage and Z-drive for semi-automated multi-dimensional acquisitions including Z-stacks and tilescans at multiple positions
- Timelapse capability with high-speed acquisition with up to 1 ms exposure times
- Four filter sets for multi-channel acquisitions
Zeiss AxioScan.Z1, Automated widefield slide scanner - The Zeiss AxioScan.Z1 is a fully automated brightfield and fluorescence slide scanner for high volume widefield imaging. This system is capable of scanning up to 100 whole slides in a single experiment run, and it can reconstruct “virtual slides” at high-resolution by stitching tiled scans. The system is equipped with fluorescence filters for a wide range of dyes from near-UV to far red and the fast Colibri.7 LED illumination. Brightfield images are captured with an Hitachi 3 CCD colour camera and weak fluorescence signal is captured with a high-sensitivity monochromatic sCMOS camera (Hamamatsu Orca Flash 4.0 v2).
Applications:
- Fully automated widefield microscope for fast high-volume XYZ imaging (up to 100 slides)
- Brightfield and fluorescence applications suitable for thin sections
- Visualise structures up to sub-cellular resolution
Olympus BX61 (Stereo Investigator), Widefield fluorescence microscope - The Olympus BX61 is an upright widefield microscope suitable for UV/blue/green fluorescence and brightfield imaging. It is equipped with a motorised stage for tracing and analysing structures beyond a single field of view.
This microscope is set apart from our other widefield systems by the MBF Bioscience software packages installed. Complex stereological analyses can be carried out with Stereo Investigator 9.13 to estimate the number, length, area and volume of cells or structures of interest in a tissue specimen. The additional Neurolucida 9.13 software can perform morphometric analyses of neurons, 3D neuron reconstruction and brain mapping applications.
Applications:
- Motorised stage and Z-drive for multi-dimensional acquisitions
- UV, blue and green filter sets for fluorescence microscopy in addition to brightfield imaging
- Specialised software for stereological analyses, neuron tracing, 3D neuron reconstructions and brain mapping applications at high-resolution
Zeiss AxioScope A1 (DIC), Brightfield microscope - The Zeiss AxioScope A1 is an upright brightfield microscope with a HAL 100 lamp for trans-illumination and a DIC unit for high-contrast brightfield imaging using Differential Interference Contrast (DIC). It’s equipped with a AxioCam ICc5 CCD camera with RGB mask.
Applications:
- High-contrast brightfield imaging by differential interference contrast (DIC)
- Label-free, low-power imaging of sensitive samples
Zeiss Lumar V12, Fluorescence stereo microscope - The Zeiss Lumar.V12 is a fluorescence stereo microscope suitable for the 3D analysis of large specimens in fluorescent and brightfield light. The system is equipped with a cold KL2500 LCD light-source well-suited for dissections, in addition to a HXP 120C lamp and high-efficiency filter sets for multi-channel fluorescence observations.
Single and time-lapse image capture is possible on this microscope using a sensitive cooled CCD camera and the motorised Z-drive enables three-dimensional acquisitions.
Applications:
- Stereoscope for 3D viewing through the ocular; note that 50% emission is lost when viewing by the camera
- Multi-channel three-dimensional acquisitions
- Time-lapse image acquisition
Zeiss Discovery V8, Fluorescence stereo microscope (fly dissection) - The Zeiss Discovery.V8 is a fluorescence stereo microscope suitable for 3D visualisation and fly dissection. The system is equipped with a cold halogen light source (KL 1500 LCD) for intensive illumination with infrared-free light in brightfield, in addition to two LEDs for observation of fluorescent probes.
Two fluorescence filter sets enable sequential imaging of GFP and RFP or similar fluorophores and digitisation is possible using the AxioCam ICc3 CCD colour camera for brightfield or monochrome image acquisition.
Applications:
- Stereoscope for fly dissection with a cold light source for intensive illumination with infrared-free light
- Single-frame brightfield or fluorescence image capture
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Leica M205C, Brightfield stereo microscope (fly dissection) - The Leica M205C is a brightfield-only stereo microscope suitable for 3D visualisation through the eyepiece and fly dissection under incident light. The system is equipped with an LED cold light source for intensive illumination with infrared-free light.
Applications:
- Cold light source suited to fly dissection
Workstations
Image analysis workstation
Licenses: Arivis, Imaris and Matlab. Free software: Fiji and Zen Lite.
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2637 v4 @ 3.50GHz 3.50GHz (2 processores); 256 GB RAM; Windows 10 Pro 64-bit operating system.
