Zeiss LSM 880 Upright Confocal Microscope System
This upright laser scanning confocal system is used to evaluate tissue sections mounted on slides or cultured cells grown on chamber slides. This equipment was outfitted with 6 laser lines (405, 458, 488, 514, 561, and 633), 3 PMT's, a motorized scanning stage and stepper motor, 10x (air), 20x (air), 40x (water dipping), 40x (oil), 63x (oil), 100x (oil) objective lenses with DIC optics; Zen acquisition software with the tiling module, anti-vibration table, a high capacity computer and 30 inch high resolution monitor.
Zeiss LSM 880 Inverted Live-Cell Confocal
This inverted confocal system is used to visualize physiological processes in living cells. This instrument has a completely enclosed incubator system with an O2/CO2 regulation for long-term support of live cell experiments. The system is configured to acquire long time-lapse data, to do FRET and ratio imaging using calcium and intracellular pH dyes, and also serves as a secondary instrument for the acquisition of data from fixed tissue/fixed cell samples, when needed. A list of specific features are as follows: Axio Observer Z1 stand with joystick control; Zeiss environmental incubator; heating insert; Zeiss O2/CO2, and humidity control; assortment of live imaging chambers and inserts; Eppendorf InjectMan N1 2 with FemtoJet microinjection system; 10x (air), 20x (air), 40x (water corrected), 63x (oil), 100x (oil) objective lenses and DIC optics; 6 laser lines (405, 458, 488, 514, 561, and 633), 3 PMT's, a motorized scanning stage and stepper motor, Zeiss Zen Physiology software for FRET, time lapse acquisition, etc..computer, and a 32” high resolution monitor.
Fast Airyscan upgrade for the LSM880 live cell confocal system
This upgrade was a field upgrade for the LSM880 confocal system, listed above. Added was the Airyscan detector with software capability to image in near super-resolution mode. This equipment also facilitates use of spectral unmixing technology, used for multi-label applications being developed in the core. Further capability was added with the Fast module, which allows much faster acquisition via parallel excitation and detection.
Zeiss AxioImager M1
This upright widefield microscope is used for photo-documentation of stained paraffin sections and for fluorescence imaging of tissue sections. A sophisticated physiology software package accompanies this software to extend its processing capabilities. The list of specific features are as follows: AxioCam MRm (B/W) and HRc (color) CCD cameras; X-Cite Mercury Vapor Short Arc Lamp; 5x (air), 10x (air), 20x (air), 40x (oil), 63x (oil), and 100x (oil) objective lenses; red, green, blue and far-red fluorescence filters; Zeiss AxioVision software including the Physiology package; additional off-line work station.
Dell Precision 3630 Tower Workstations (2)
These computers are located in the core and used for image processing with Fuji ImageJ or Imaris 3D/4D Visualization software. They have an Intel Core i9-9900, 8 core, 16 MB Cache, 3.1 GHz, 4.9 GHz turbo CPU with UHD Graphics 630. Included is also a NVIDIA Quatro P4000, 8 GB, 4 DP video adaptor and 64GB (installed), 266 MHz, DDR4 RAM memory. Each computer has Window's 10 installed and also has a 28 inch Dell ULtraSharp monitor, and a high precision laser mouse.
DAKO Dap48 AutoStainer Plus (not for independent usage)
This open-platform autostainer for immunohistochemistry allows it to be used with customer-designed and validated antibodies and reagents. It is computer-driven, and holds 48 slides to stain at the same time. The autostainer provides consistent results and is a reliable instrument for daily usage in the core.
Data Storage and Management
Internal BIDMC users are able to request HPC or dedicated CPU/GPU processing in Amazon AWS that is fully compliant with BILH data security guidelines. Both on-site and AWS HPC carry user charges that are not covered by the core. Storage consists of 10TB available to all researchers on the on-site shares. This can grow to 100TB (at no cost) over time for those with large data storage needs. There is a no-cost archive option that moves older data to the AWS cloud for permanent archival. All data is replicated, and users can restore or revert to previous versions if needed by themselves. If data analysis is in AWS, there is also S3 storage for data that is available at no cost. BIDMC/BILH IS can work with users to determine needs and data/computing configuration.