The Core Imaging Facility occupies approximately 1,400 sq. ft. in Room 0617, Bldg. 102. The facility contains a Hitachi H-600 transmission electron microscope, a JEOL 840A scanning electron microscope, two (2) Zeiss LSM-510 confocal microscopes, a Leitz Orthoplan fluorescent microscope, and two (2) image analysis workstations. The facility includes all of the ancillary equipment required for tissue processing as well as a fully equipped darkroom. A full-time Research Assistant III is available to assist investigators requiring use of the facilities.

The Hitachi H-600 TEM is capable of operating at 25-100 kV accelerating potentials. Users have the option of an automated goniometer stage if specimen-tilting is required. Images can be recorded on either 35 mm film or 3 X 4 sheet films.

The JEOL JSM-840A SEM can operate at wide ranges of accelerating potentials and has a stage that will accommodate samples up to 20 mm in size. Both secondary electron and backscattered electron detectors are available. A separate high-resolution monitor is available for recording images on Polaroid film. Digital images can be recorded directly from the microscope using a Hitachi Digital Scan Generator interfaced to a Dell computer.

Confocal #1 The older Zeiss LSM-510 laser scanning microscope is interfaced to a Zeiss Axiovert inverted microscope equipped with a Plan-Neofluar 10X/0.30 lens, a LCI Plan-Neoflour 25X/0.8 water lens, a Plan-Apo 63X/1.4 oil lens, and a C-Apo 63X/1.2 water lens for high resolution work. Two detectors allow simultaneous collection of images using the AR 458/488 and HENE 543 lasers as well as bright-field DIC. See suggested fluorochromes. Non-confocal nuclear staining (DAPI, Hoechst) can be superimposed on the confocal images.

Confocal #2 The newer Zeiss LSM-510 laser scanning microscope is interfaced to a Zeiss Axio Observer Z1 inverted microscope equipped with a motorized scanning stage, live cell incubation chamber with heated stage, FRET cababilities (see pdf) and a 1.4 Megapixel cooled extended spectral range RGB digital camera for LM work. Objectives include an EC Plan-Neofluar 10X/0.30 lens, a Plan-Apo 63X/1.4 oil lens, and a C-Apo 40X/1.2 water lens. Image resolutions up to 2048x2048 are available and the tiling function allows multiple images to be stitched together for high resolution large views. Three detectors allow simultaneous collection of images using the 405 diode laser, an Ar 458,477,488,514, a DPSS 561 laser, and a HeNe 633 laser as well as bright-field DIC. See suggested fluorochromes. The software includes both the LSM 510 package, as well as the new Zen software. Users trained on the LSM 510 software will be immediately comfortable using this system and can transition to the Zen software as needed.

A separate computer workstation (300 GHz Pentium running Windows XP) is dedicated for image processing and analysis. All computers are networked through high-speed ethernet ports to facilitate transfer of data to the workstations of individual P.I.'s. This workstation inlcudes an Epson color printer and a Microtek flatbed scanner.

A separate Leitz Orthoplan upright microscope is also available. This microscope is equipped with a Hg-vapor lamp for fluorescence work. Users may record images through either a DP-11 Olympus digital camera or a video camera (Dage, Inc) interfaced to an Apple computer (PowerPC) running ImageJ software.