NSF funding used to purchase super resolution Zeiss microscope

The Biology Department received NSF funding to purchase a $1.1 million super resolution Zeiss Microscope. This new microscope is the latest addition to a well-equipped imaging core facility in Higgins Hall managed by Imaging Facility Manager Bret Judson. The system was delivered in late January 2017 and came on-line in February 2017, extending the range of experiments that can be conducted at Boston College. The microscope provides cutting-edge imaging capabilities to researchers that were previously only available at other institutions, and serves as an excellent teaching tool for undergraduate and graduate students in Bret’s microscopy course: Advanced Lab in Cell Imaging.

A brief description of the microscope follows:

Zeiss LSM 880-AS-FAST Elyra S1: This system combines several technologies into one flexible platform. At the base level, the system is the latest laser scanning confocal microscope from Zeiss capable of imaging samples at multiple wavelengths from 405nm to 633nm and from magnifications of 10x to 100x.  Included on this new system are two “super-resolution” modalities – the Airyscan unit with the FAST module and the Elyra S1 unit.  The Airyscan technology improves resolution down to 140 nm laterally and 400 nm axially while also enhancing sensitivity from 4-8x. In addition, the Airyscan module can be run in the “FAST” mode for live samples. The FAST module re-shapes the Airyscan beam, resulting in a 4-fold enhancement in speed while still remaining up to 4x more sensitive than a standard detector. For users requiring better resolution than the Airyscan can provide, the system has the Elyra unit which can provide resolution of 120 nm laterally and 300 nm axially.  Depending on experimental needs, users can freely change between any of these technologies. In contrast to some other super-resolution technologies, the Airyscan and the Elyra do not require special fluorophores and both work well with most standard mounting medias. This makes using either technology easier, as most standard microscope samples are inherently imaged well by either technique.