Dear microscopists, I'm very pleased to announce that we now have a fully functional TIRF microscope available. The microscope is an adaptation of a manual Zeiss Axiovert 200 system, with addition of a Till monochromator for standard fluorescence excitation, two lasers (491 and 561nm) for TIRF imaging, a high-resolution TIRF objective (100x/1.45), a high-sensitivity camera (Hamamatsu C9100-13) and an Optosplit for parallel visualisation of green and red fluorescence. The microscope is available from now, but because of the manual setup interested users need to attend the laser safety course before they can get training. For more detailed information, see EQUIPMENT page on the FILM website / Widefield 3 - TIRF. And as an outlook for the not-too-distant future: We have also been working hard to implement PALM and STORM microscopy on the same system, and have now achieved preliminary results with both techniques. Several optimisation still need to be done, but hopefully we will be able to do high-resolution microscopy in all three dimensions (TIRF for 'Z' and PALM / STORM for 'XY') very soon. Good imaging, Martin TIRF microscope: <http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/imagingfacility/equipment/wf3> TIRF microscopy: <http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/imagingfacility/links/imaging_information> ################################################### Martin Spitaler, PhD FILM - Facility for Imaging by Light Microscopy - Facility Manager - Sir Alexander Fleming Building, desk 401 Imperial College London / South Kensington Exhibition Road London SW7 2AZ UK Tel. +44-(0)20-759-42023 E-mail m.spitaler@imperial.ac.uk Website: http://imperial.ac.uk/imagingfacility