Microscope Stand Information

Unless otherwise stated the microscope objective lenses require specimens to be mounted on a #1.5 glass coverslip (170 microns) or in a chamber/dish with a coverslip bottom of the same thickness.

Widefield Microscopes

Use a widefield microscope if your specimen is thin and relatively free of out-of focus blur or you don't need to optically section it for processing, analysis and visualisation in 3D.

Microscope Name	Upright or Inverted?	Fluorescence Colours	Key Features	Techniques
Axioplan	Upright	Blue, Green, Red, Far-Red	Zeiss Axioplan 2 microscope QImaging QClick camera Fluorescence DIC	High sensitivity and high resolution fluorescence microscopy and differential interference contrast (DIC) of fixed specimens on slides
Axio Imager	Upright	Blue, Green, Red, Far-Red. Cyan and Yellow available on request	Zeiss Axio Imager A1 microscope QImaging Retiga EXi camera Fluorescence Phase contrast	High sensitivity and high resolution fluorescence microscopy and phase contrast of fixed specimens on slides
Axioskop 3	Upright	Blue, Green, Red	Zeiss Axioskop microscope QImaging QICAM colour camera Fluorescence Phase contrast Motorised stage	Moderate to high resolution fluorescence microscopy and imaging of histologically or histochemically stained specimens on slides. Motorised stage supports tiling and stitching of specimens.
Leica	Inverted	Blue, Green, Red	Leica DMIRB microscope Hamamatsu Orca NRB camera Fluorescence Phase contrast Long distance lenses suitable for use with normal TC dishes and plates	Good for moderate resolution fluorescence microscopy and phase contrast of fixed/live specimens on slides, or in dishes and plates with glass or plastic bottoms.
Leica 2	Inverted	Blue, Cyan, Green, Red	Leica DMIRB microscope Leica DFC7000T colour camera Fluorescence Phase contrast Leica Modulation Contrast (LMC) Long distance lenses suitable for use with normal TC dishes and plates	Moderate to high resolution fluorescence microscopy and colour imaging of histologically or histochemically stained specimens on slides, or in dishes and plates with glass or plastic bottoms. Leica Modulation Contrast (LMC) lenses for brightfield contrast imaging that is less sensitive to the meniscus in well plates. Cyan filter cube for CFP.

Confocal Microscopes

Use a confocal microscope if your specimen in thick, has significant out-of-focus blur, or if you need to process, analyse or visualise it in 3D.

Microscope Name	Upright or Inverted?	Laser Lines	Live Imaging	Key Features	Techniques
SPE	Upright	405, 488, 532, 640	Perfusion chamber and dipping lenses on request	Leica TCS SPE with DM2500 stand Differential Interference Contrast Spectral imaging system One PMT detector Z Galvo high speed focus Water dipping lenses available Incubation possible with Warner Instruments perfusion chamber	Leica TCS SPE with DM2500 stand. One PMT detector. DIC. Most suitable for 3D imaging of fixed specimens on slides. Live imaging is possible but image acquisition is not fast. Samples can be scanned orthogonally (in XZ) using the Z Galvo.
SPE2	Upright	405, 488, 532, 640	Oko-Lab stage adapter and dipping lenses on request	Leica TCS SPE with DM2500 stand Differential Interference Contrast Spectral imaging system One PMT detector Z Galvo high speed focus Water dipping lenses available Incubation possible with Oko-Lab stage adapter	Leica TCS SPE with DM2500 stand. One PMT detector. DIC. Most suitable for 3D imaging of fixed specimens on slides. Live imaging is possible but image acquisition is not fast. Samples can be scanned orthogonally (in XZ) using the Z Galvo.
SPE3	Inverted	405, 488, 561, 640	No incubation equipment is available for this microscope	Leica TCS SPE version 2 with DMI4000 stand 561 nm laser instead of 532 nm laser Motorised stage Spectral imaging system One PMT detector Z Galvo high speed focus Differential Interference Contrast Matrix Screener software module	Leica TCS SPE with DMI4000 stand. One PMT detector. DIC. Most suitable for imaging of fixed specimens in slides and dishes. Inverted stand suitable for fluorescence and DIC on grids for CLEM. Motorised stage for multi-position imaging and tiling. 561 nm laser is close to the excitation peak of popular red fluorophores. Matrix Screener module for high content screening applications.
SP5	Inverted	405, 457, 476, 488, 495, 561, 594, 633	Pe-Con stage-top incubator for 35 mm dishes	Leica TCS SP5 with DMI6000B stand Motorised stage Differential Interference Contrast Spectral imaging system Three high sensitivity Hybrid detectors and one PMT FRAP and FRET Wizards Live Data Mode and Matrix Screener modules Pe-Con incubation equipment	Leica TCS SP5 with DMI6000B stand 4D (3D+T) imaging of live and fixed specimens Inverted stand suitable for fluorescence and DIC on grids for CLEM Motorised stage for multi-position acquisition and tiling Multi-well plate insert available FRAP and FRET Acceptor Photobleaching or Sensitised Emission. Live Data Mode and Matrix Screener for complex experiment design.
Olympus FV1200	Inverted	405, 458, 488, 515, 559, 635 Sim Scanner: 405 (pulsed), 440		Olympus FV1200 with IX83 microscope stand Motorised stage Differential Interference Contrast Spectral imaging for two PMT detectors Third non-spectral PMT with fluorescence filters Two high sensitivity GaAsP detectors Simultaneous (Sim) scanner with pulsed 405 nm laser and 440 continuous wave laser Ablation and FRAP capability 32x and 60x silicon lenses available Tokai-Hit incubation equipment	3D scanning of fixed specimens. Live imaging of specimens in 35 mm dishes and chambered coverslips. Highly sensitivite live imaging of green and red fluorophores using the GaAsP detectors. Imaging of thick living specimens using the silicon lenses to correct for the refractive index of cytoplasm. Tiling of large specimens using the motorised stage. Ablation of cytoskeletal cortex in adherent cells using the pulsed 405 nm laser. Fluorescence and DIC on gridded 35 mm dishes for correlative light and electron microscopy.
Radiance	Upright	458, 488, 514, 543, 635		Bio-Rad Microscience Radiance 2100 with Nikon 800 stand Three high sensitivity GaAsP detectors Differential Interference Contrast Basic FRAP capability Incubation possible with stage and objective lens heaters	3D imaging of fixed specimens on slides. Other microscopes are recommended for live imaging of mammalian specimens and for more sophisticated FRAP capability.

Spinning Disc Confocal Microscopes

Use spinning disc microscopes for high-speed live confocal imaging of samples.

Microscope Name	Upright or Inverted?	Laser Lines	Key Features	Techniques
Vox	Inverted	405, 488, 561, 640	Perkin Elmer Ultraview Vox Yokogawa CSU-X1 spinning disc Nikon TiE microscope Hamamatsu C9100-13 EMCCD camera Photokinesis Unit (PKU) for FRAP Motorised stage Prior NanoscanZ piezo focus Oko-Lab cage incubator	Imaging of live specimens in 35 mm dishes, Lab-Tek chambered coverslips and Ibidi uSlides using Solent Scientific cage type incubation chamber. DIC. Multi-point and stitching. FRAP.
3i	Inverted	405, 440, 488, 514, 561, 640	Yokogawa CSU-W1 spinning disc Zeiss Axio Observer Z1 microscope Photometrics Prime 95b camera Andor iXon 888 Life EMCCD camera Vector system for FRAP Motorised stage ASI high speed piezo focus Oko-Lab cage incubator	Imaging of live specimens in 35 mm dishes, Lab-Tek chambered coverslips and Ibidi uSlides using Oko-Lab cage type incubation chamber. DIC. Multi-point and stitching. FRAP.

Time-lapse inverted microscope systems

Microscope	Objective Lenses	Fluorescence Colours	Camera	Techniques
GFP1	10x to 40x air and LWD (oil lenses available)	Green and Red	Greyscale high sensitivity CCD	Optimally configured for 'screening' of multiple positions in multi-well plates and other vessels at low to moderate resolution and high sensitivity using phase contrast and fluorescence. Stage adapters support Nunc and Mat-Tek multi-well plates and 35 mm Mat-Tek dishes. If you need to use another vessel or adapter you must contact Andrew Vaughan
GFP2	10x to 40x air and LWD (oil lenses available)	Blue, Green and Red	Greyscale high sensitivity CCD	Optimally configured for 'screening' of multiple positions in multi-well plates and other vessels at low to moderate resolution and high sensitivity using phase contrast and fluorescence. Stage adapters support Nunc and Mat-Tek multi-well plates and 35 mm Mat-Tek dishes. If you need to use another vessel or adapter you must contact Andrew Vaughan
N-STORM (coming soon)	10x air to 100x oil TIRF lens	Blue, Green, Red and Far-Red	Greyscale ultra-high sensitivity EMCCD	Optimally configured for high resolution and high sensitivity fluorescence microscopy of living specimens in XYZT for deconvolution, TIRF and super-resolution using N-STORM and dSTORM.

LMCB Microscope Comparison

Microscope Stand Information

Widefield Microscopes

Confocal Microscopes

Spinning Disc Confocal Microscopes

Time-lapse inverted microscope systems