LSM 710 - Confocal Scanning Microscope

LSM710 is equipped with a Zeiss Axiovert inverted microscope and 5x, 10x (water), 20x, 40x (water), 63x (water) objectives. The system includes 4 lasers: a 25mW 405 nm diode laser, a 25 mW multi-line Argon laser (458, 488, and 514 nm), a 20 mW 561 nm DPSS laser, and a 5mW 633 nm HeNe laser.

The scanhead is attached to a Zeiss Axio Observer Z1 inverted microscope with motorized, programmable x,y,z stage, joystick and touch panel docking control station. This system has software, called "ZEN", that can control the microscope, scanning, laser module, tools and the image acquisition and processing.

Spinning Disk Confocal Microscope

From left to right we have: rack with control modules, a box that contains four lasers, the Hamamatsu camera, the Yokogawa confocal scanner and the Zeiss Axiovert 200M optical microscope.

The Yokogawa confocal scanner, the Zeiss Axiovert 200M optical microscope, and it's controlling computer.

Confocal system: on the top left is the laser box. From left to right are the Hamamatsu electron multiplier CCD camera, the optical filter changer, and the Yokogawa CSU 10.  The CSU10 device contains a dual Nipkow disk scanner and transports the laser light to the Ziess microscope. It also transports the emitted fluorescent light from the sample to the camera. The black box on the left is an emission filter wheel.

Epifluorescent Microscopes

Axio Imager.M2

The Zeiss Axio Imager M2 is an upright, fully motorized, PC controlled, high performance research microscope. It has excellent optics and homogeneous illumination in both transmitted light and fluorescence applications. The microscope has a wide range of lenses including: 10x Plan-Neofluar, 20x Plan-Apochromat, 40x (water) C-Apochromat (DIC) and 100 x (oil) Plan-Apochromat (HC DIC). It is equipped with filters: 49 [excitation (ex) 365nm emission (em) 445/50 nm] 38 [ex 470/40 nm, em 525/50nm]; 46 [ex 500/20nm, em 535/30nm]; 20 [ex 546/12nm, em 575-640nm]; 63 (HE) [ex 572/25nm, em 629/62nm]; 50 [ex 640/30nm, em 690/50nm].  The system has motorized Z-drive and can be used to acquire 3D images. The microscope has AxioCam 503m and color MRc cameras. 

Axio Zoom V16

The Zeiss Axio Zoom V16 is a sensitive and robust imaging platform with superior fluorescence brightness in large object fields. For high resolution imaging applications, the V16 combines a 16x optical zoom with high numerical aperture (NA) of 0.25. In addition, this system is outfitted with a broad spectrum of excitation and emission filters. The microscope has the option of two cameras, AxioCam 503m and color MRc. The ZEN PRO software controls the V16 and image acquisition.

Leica LMD7

USDA funding was used to procure a flexible and user-friendly Leica LMD7 laser microdissection system to elevate research capabilities in the North Texas and Southern Oklahoma region. Laser microdissection offers proven, versatile technology for precision sample preparation and enables users to readily isolate microscopic tissues or single cells free from contaminating material. Laser microdissection is used in genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics across a broad spectrum of biological, agricultural, biomedical, and allied fields, including plant and animal development, metabolism, pathology, and organisms interacting with the biotic and abiotic environment.