- Zeiss LSM510 Meta Confocal Microscope: An inverted confocal microscope with a motorised stage on the xy and z axes, equipped with four visible lasers (405–488–543–633), two standard photomultiplier detectors and a Meta detector. It enables confocal imaging of a single field or mosaic imaging on a single plane or across multiple planes (z-stack). The microscope is fitted with an incubator, allowing time-lapse studies on cell cultures, organotypic slices and animal models. The instrument also facilitates studies of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP).
- Zeiss LSM900 Confocal Microscope: An inverted confocal microscope with a motorised stage on the xy and z axes, equipped with four visible solid-state lasers (405, 488, 561 and 640) and two spectral photomultiplier detectors. It enables confocal imaging of a single field or mosaic imaging on a single plane or across multiple planes (z-stack). The instrument also allows for fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) studies.
- Zeiss LSM880 integrated platform for confocal, two-photon, super-resolution and fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM):
The system consists of a dual microscopy workstation organised as follows:
1) Upright microscope with a motorised stage on the xy and z axes, fitted with two visible lasers (488 and 543) and an IR laser, enabling confocal microscopy, two-photon microscopy or fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM, Picoquant®) studies to be carried out on ex vivo samples. The system is fitted with an objective for electrophysiological studies and a long-working-distance objective optimised for two-photon microscopy on clarified samples. The instrument can operate in both descanned and non-descanned modes. In descanned mode, it is fitted with two standard photomultiplier detectors, optimised for different wavelengths, and a GaAsP detector. In non-descanned mode, there are two BiG detectors and a GaAsP detector integrated into the objective revolver.
2) Inverted microscope with a motorised stage on the xy and z axes, fitted with three visible lasers (488, 543, 633) and one IR laser, a motorised stage on the x, y and z axes, and an objective panel optimised for carrying out confocal, two-photon or FLIM (Picoquant®) microscopy studies on both ex vivo samples and cell cultures or organotypic slices, both in vitro and in vivo. The instrument is equipped with a GaAsP detector and two standard photomultipliers, optimised for different wavelengths. The inclusion of an incubation system enables morphological studies or functional analyses to be carried out in time-lapse mode.
The integrated platform also features an Airyscan system for super-resolution, capable of operating in fast mode, and a fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) system comprising two cooled detectors for photon counting (Picoquant®).
- Image analysis: An image analysis workstation that enables the processing and analysis of images acquired using the Zen Black and Zen Blue (Zeiss) software and FLIM (Picoquant®).
- X-CLARITY SYSTEM: The X-Clarity system (Logos Biosystems) is optimised for the degassing, embedding and clarification of thick biological samples. It standardises, simplifies and accelerates clarification procedures, enabling the highly efficient preservation of the structure of fluorescent proteins within tissues, as well as the performance of deep-tissue labelling.
- Microscopy sample preparation laboratory: The laboratory is optimised to facilitate the maintenance and storage of samples used during microscopy studies in the imaging laboratory.