Dear FILM users, We will have a one-week demo of the new Zeiss LSM 880 with fast Airyscan mode here at Imperial. This is a fantastic opportunity to thoroughly test this microscope with your samples under real conditions for live imaging and other. We are currently applying for funding for a new confocal microscope and this would be one of the options. This instrument should have better sensitivity and resolution than our current confocal microscopes. The demo will be in the week January 23-27, so pretty soon after the holidays and we need to plan a schedule for the experiments. Please let me, Steve or David know if you want to take part in this and what you like to image. Zeiss will do a presentation about the system on January 19th at 12:00 -13:00 here in the SAF building Here is the summary of the grant application with a bit more detail: Confocal imaging accounts for a large fraction of the usage in the FILM facility including live imaging, however the current instruments have their limitations in sensitivity and achievable resolution. We request a latest generation, highly sensitive confocal microscope (Zeiss LSM880 Airyscan or Leica SP8 HyVolution) for high resolution live imaging. This will allow the use of much lower laser power than conventional confocal microscopes enabling the users to image live samples with decreased phototoxicity for longer. The increase in sensitivity is not only due to modern detector technology such as GaAsP or HyD detectors, but also new imaging modes like the Zeiss Airyscan, which allows high resolution imaging with better light throughput than conventional confocal imaging. The Zeiss Airyscan also supports a new fast mode with 4-times faster image acquisition, whereas the Leica system has a resonance scanner for fast scanning. Both systems have ~1.7-fold improvement in resolution compared to normal confocal imaging, enabling the distinction of smaller features within cells without special sample preparation steps. Because new imaging technologies generate much more data, we apply for an upgrade of the existing network infrastructure linked to a new data storage server and a powerful analysis. Best wishes Andreas ---------------------------------------------------- Dr Andreas Bruckbauer FILM facility manager Sir Alexander Fleming Building South Kensington Campus Imperial College London Exhibition Road London, SW7 2AZ SAF 4th floor, open space desk 401 +44 (0)20 7594 2023 a.bruckbauer@imperial.ac.uk<mailto:a.bruckbauer@imperial.ac.uk> http://www.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/facility-for-imaging-by-light-microscopy/ ----------------------------------------------------