Microscopy

What is it?

The UdL-IRBLleida Microscopy Service is responsible for maintaining the microscopes and providing training to internal and external users so that they are able to capture images of their samples using optical microscopy (brightfield, epifluorescence and confocal microscopy) and electron microscopy.

What equipment is available?

• UdL Microscopes
  • Zeiss Axioskop 2 clear-field and epifluorescence microscope with LEDs. Illumination via 365 nm, 480 nm and 520 nm LEDs. It is fitted with two cameras: a 2.3 MP 1/º.2" monochrome CMOS camera and a colour camera for clear-field viewing. It is equipped with 2.5x, 10x, 20x and 60x (oil) objectives.
  • Zeiss AxioObserver Z.1 epifluorescence microscope. It features various excitation filters covering a wide range of wavelengths. It is fitted with 4x, 10x, 20x and 60x (oil) objectives. It also supports phase contrast and DIC imaging. It enables in vivo time-lapse studies. Furthermore, it is equipped with an image acquisition programme recently updated to Zen.
  • Olympus BX51 epifluorescence microscope. It has blue, green, red and far-red emission. It is fitted with a monochrome camera and features 4x, 10x, 20x, 40x and 63x (oil) objectives.
  • Olympus FV1000 confocal microscope. This is an inverted microscope fitted with an incubation chamber, enabling in vivo experiments and time-lapse studies. It has five laser lines (405 nm, 488 nm, 543 nm, 559 nm and 635 nm). It also supports phase contrast and DIC imaging. The microscope is fitted with 4x, 10x, 20x, 40x (oil) and 63x (oil) objectives.

  • Zeiss Cell Discoverer 7 confocal microscope. Inverted microscope with 4 lasers (405 nm, 488 nm, 561 nm and 640 nm). It features a system similar to DIC and is equipped with 5x, 20x, 20x and 50x (water) objectives, as well as a magnification changer (0.5x, 1x and 2x), enabling a total of 12 magnifications. It also features an Airyscan super-resolution detector. It supports a wide range of sample holders (up to three slides at a time, 384-well plates and Petri dishes). It is equipped with a microfluidics module. It can be used for in vivo samples under normoxic and hypoxic conditions.

  • Jeol JEM1400 Flash 120 kV Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) with a Gatan Rio camera.

• IRBLleida Microscopes

  • Nikon AX.R NSPARC confocal microscope with hardware-based super-resolution. It is an inverted microscope fitted with an incubation chamber, enabling work with live cells and time-lapse studies. It also incorporates a camera for capturing epifluorescence images and features three excitation and emission filters. It is fitted with five objectives: 4x, 10x, 25x (silicone), 60x (oil) and 100x (oil). The confocal system has seven lasers (405 nm, 445 nm, 488 nm, 514 nm, 561 nm, 640 nm and 730 nm) and enables the acquisition of XY images, mosaics, time-lapse sequences and Z-stacks.

  • Leica SPE confocal microscope on loan from the CRG. It is an inverted microscope with 4 lasers (405 nm, 488 nm, 532 nm and 635 nm) and spectral detection. The instrument is equipped with four objectives (10x, 20x, 40x and 63x) and enables the capture of confocal images in XY or as Z-stacks using the LAS AF software.

What services do we offer?

• Three-dimensional analysis of biological samples: immunofluorescence in cells, tissues, etc.

• Three-dimensional analysis of the colocalisation of up to four markers.

• Studies of molecular interactions and cellular processes: FRET, FRAP.

• Live-cell studies: time-lapse and 4D analysis.

• In vivo and real-time cell analysis using fluorescent markers and/or fusion proteins (GFP) and derivatives.

• Technical support and user training in image acquisition using confocal optical microscopy.

The rates for the IBRLleida microscopes can be found in the 'Rates' section of this website. The rates for the UdL microscopes can be found on the website: UdL Microscopy Service.