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Zeiss LSM800 with Airyscan
"Do You See a Duck or a Fruit Fly" by Nan-Hee Kim, a ZEISS LSM 800 image of Drosophila neural stem cells
"Ready Player One" by Rujia Yan, a ZEISS LSM 800 image of an embryo-bearing sea sponge
Poison Apple by Brooke Kinsela: LSM800 image of Drosophila larval brain cells
Nebula, by Damien Muckle: A close-up of a Drosophila third instar larval brain
"Party Popper" by Brianna Kline, a LSM 800 image of a Drosophila brain
'Under the Sea', by Naomi Mitchell. an LSM800 image of a Pupal Drosophila Ovary
Lightning flash, deep in the brain by Nan-Hee Kim: an LSM800 image of a Drosophila larval brain
Electric Blue by Olga Zaytseva: an LSM800 image of a developing Drosophila brain
A Zeiss LSM800 with Airyscan Super-resolution confocal microscope is housed within the Centre for Advanced Microscopy. Airyscan technology, unique to Zeiss, provides a resolution improvement of 1.8 x in all dimensions (~125nm X-Y, 350nm Z), resulting in an image volume 5 x smaller than a conventional confocal. Unlike many other super-resolution techniques, Airyscan capitalises on the scanning and optical sectioning capabilities of a confocal. In doing so, it provides resolution improvements at all confocal imaging depths, using routine sample preparation techniques.
This instrument was purchased through a MEC grant, led by JCSMR researchers and supported by groups throughout RSB and CMBE. This instrument is available to all researchers.
The system is based on an Axio Imager Z2 upright microscope. It is equipped with 405, 488, 561 and 640 nm laser lines, the Airyscan super-resolution module plus two individual GaAsP PMT detectors, a transmitted light detector, an AxioCam 506 digital camera and Colibri LED light source. Also included is the Shuttle & Find module for Correlative Microscopy, advanced large area tiling and experiment designer software, in addition to normal confocal features such as 3D, time series, and region of interest analysis. Sequential spectral profiling and analysis is also available.
The three highly sensitive GaAsP detectors provide the highest signal-to-noise ratio. This, combined with the unique optical design and fast linear scanning technology, means that the imaging speed and throughput is markedly increased so that more time is available for image acquisition at the microscope and for more users. In addition laser excitation energies are significantly lower reducing bleaching and sample damage.
By default, the system is equipped with six lenses ranging from 5x 0.16NA to 63x 1.4NA. A number of other lenses are available for special purpose applications, including a 2.5x 0.075 NA, a 40x 0.8 W direct dipping lens, and LWD dry lenses.
The ZEN Blue software includes a number of features which simplify training, speed up configuration, navigation and acquisition, saving time, and allowing you to get faster answers to your questions.