Dr Amit Jathoul and Professor Jim Murray (BIOSI) have recently obtained generous funding from the Wellcome Trust to purchase a real-time, multi-spectral in vivo imaging system from Biospace Lab. The PhotonIMAGER allows bioluminescence/fluorescence imaging at a wide range of scales from cells, tissues and organs to entire complex organisms, thereby bridging the gap from single cell to whole organism imaging. Further details of the system are available through the research equipment database.
Image: The virtual histology slide box and viewer – a resource that holds fantastic potential for BIOSI teaching, research and public engagement.
The Bioimaging Hub has recently completed work in digitising the School’s extensive histopathology slide repository. Over 400 histological sections, encompassing both normal and pathological tissues, were painstakingly scanned and digitised in high resolution using the facilities Objective Imaging Surveyor slide scanning system. The datasets, totalling 4TB, have been converted into the Zoomify .ziff image file format to enable easy and rapid on-line browsing, zooming and navigation (similar to that of Google Earth) and calibrated to allow feature measurement. The image files have been linked, via thumbnails, to a database that captures all relevant metadata for each histological section (filename, tissue type, organ system, species, section plane, histological stain, section ID, supplier, objective magnification etc) to facilitate easy sorting and data retrieval. The database is currently set up on a basic Linux server within the facility; however, to cope with concurrent file access by large numbers of up to 150 students, it will require a permanent home on a dedicated server within the School. With further development, the resource promises to have fantastic potential for teaching, research and public engagement within BIOSI. Thanks to all concerned who have taken the project this far…
Image: Screenshot of the new Imaris software showing a surface-rendered model of an insect’s compound eye.
The Bioimaging Research Hub has recently purchased Bitplane Imaris software for Cell Biologists, together with a high-end PC workstation, via generous funding from the Research Infrastructure Fund (lead applicant: Dr Walter Dewitte). The software provides advanced processing options for confocal and multi-photon 3D/4D datasets and includes the following modules: Measurement Pro, Imaris Track, Imaris Cell, Imaris Coloc, Imaris XT and Imaris Vantage. Further details of the system are available via our equipment database.
Image: The old and the new: The new Zeiss LSM 880 Airyscan confocal system (right) adjacent to the old Leica TCS SP2 confocal (left) (BIOSI 2; E/0.03)
The BIOSI Bioimaging Research Hub has recently expanded its imaging toolbox with a new, state-of-the-art confocal microscope system, that was purchased through generous funding by the Research Infrastructure Fund (Lead Applicant: Dr Walter Dewitte). The system, a top-of-the-range Zeiss LSM 880 upright confocal microscope, features the advanced Airyscan super-resolution detection module which provides a 1.7x gain in resolution in all three dimensions compared to conventional confocal optics. The system also supports advanced fluorescence techniques including FCS (fluorescence correlation microscopy) and FLIM (fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) – the FLIM module will be installed during the first week of December. Further details here.
