FEI Company displayed a version of its iMIC microscope,
designed to fit into a rocket for space-based experiments.
Low cost was a theme at the 2013 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting (November 9–13, San Diego,
CA), as vendors demonstrated their responses to the
effect of funding cuts on researchers. But neuroscientists won’t be the only ones to benefit from the exhibited products.
NIGHTSEA’s (Bedford, MA) Stereo Microscope Fluorescence Adapter (SFA) system was an attention-getter, both for its price (from less than $1,000 to
under $2,500) and for the story of its development
by founder and president Charles Mazel. An add-on
that enables existing lab-level stereomicroscopes to
participate in the trend toward fluorescence that has
been dominated by high-end stereomicroscopes, the
expandable SFA offers four interchangeable excitation/
emission combinations, with excitation wavelengths
including violet, royal blue, cyan, and green.
Another offering for fluorescence microscopy, QIm-aging’s (Surrey, BC, Canada) new optiMOS scientific
CMOS (sCMOS) camera is, at $9,950, “the first product
that delivers on sCMOS performance, yet is accessible
within the constraints of typical fluorescence microscopy
budgets,” according to product manager Chris Ryan. An
alternative to CCDs and capable of imaging cell dynamics, it promises fast frame rates ( 2. 1 Mpixels at 100 frames/s), low noise, high
resolution, and sensitivity to resolve low luminescence signals.
“An extremely cost-effective option” is how Nikon Instruments
(Melville, NY) describes its LU-NA four-line solid state laser sys-
tem for microscopy. Like the LU-NB, which accommodates up to
eight laser lines, LU-NA requires no calibration, guarantees perma-
nent alignment, and ensures maximum power throughput—thus
addressing the major limitations of traditional laser launches. In
addition, LU-NB is particularly suited for Nikon’s new Ti-LAPP sys-
tem, which allows up to 32 imaging modalities to be combined
into a single micros-
copy platform. In fact,
multimodal imag-
ing—and more capa-
ble imaging—were
other themes in the
exhibit hall.
More microscopy
FEI Company (Hills-
boro, OR) has come
a long way (through
a number of acquisi-
tions) from its origi-
nal focus on nonop-
tical microscopy: The
company displayed
an array of optical sys-
tems and supporting
products, including the
5. 5 version of its Amira
3D analysis software,
which offers such func-
tions as neuron trac-
ing for neuroscientists.
FEI’s iMIC motorized
light microscopy plat-
form has demonstrated
proficiency in combin-
ing different imaging
modalities, and allowing
easy switching between
them and among appli-
cations—even within
an experiment. 1 And
its CorrSight correla-
tive microscopy offer-
ing aims to optimize the
major steps of a work-
flow involving both light
and electron modalities.
The only other company addressing correlative microscopy to
date is Zeiss (Thornwood, NY), which also showed a new mod-
ule for its ELYRA P. 1 super-resolution photoactivated localiza-
tion microscopy (PALM) system: The module allows 3D imag-
ing of endogenously expressed, photo-switchable fluorescent
proteins in a range of 1. 4 µm—and treats specimens with extra
care to allow long-term observation. Zeiss also emphasized its
light-sheet microscopy systems (see “The planar truth about
light-sheet microscopy,” p. 40), and Applied Scientific Instru-
mentation (ASI; Eugene, OR) offered “all of the necessary hard-
ware for generating the light sheet from a laser, and for scan-
ning the sample.”
Olympus (Center Valley, PA) showed off its OlyVIA Mobile
iPad App (a free download from i Tunes), which provides access
to your entire library of microscope imagery at various resolu-
tions. Olympus focused its annual neuroimaging symposium on
cellular-resolution functional brain imaging, with researchers
from the Stanford University lab of optogenetics pioneer
Karl Deisseroth.
A new kid on the microscopy block, Vutara (Salt Lake City,
UT) was on hand to discuss its SR-200, designed for acquiring
and analyzing super-resolution images with “speed, simplicity, and stability.” Its technique provides lateral resolution of 20
nm, axial resolution of 50 nm, up to 5 µm imaging depth (with
z-stack acquisition), simultaneous two-color imaging in super-res mode (up to four colors in wide-field mode), and 3D particle tracking with 10 nm precision.
Low cost and advanced imaging apply beyond
Neuroscience audience
BIOIMAGING/MICROSCOPY/NEUROSCIENCE
NIGHTSEA’s Stereo Microscope Fluorescence
Adapter (SFA) system, shown with the Royal
Blue setup, lets stereomicroscope owners add
fluorescence capability with very little expense.
