Duke University Light Microscopy Core Facility

The Facility has a wide variety of microscopes of various configurations and modalities allowing users to image a large range of samples on microscopes optimal for the needs of the sample being imaged. LMCF staff can advise you on the best choice for your experiments.

Leica SP5 confocal microscope Confocal imaging of fixed or live samples Inverted microscope 405, Ar/2, 561, 594, 633 laser lines AOBS based system Conventional and resonant scanners Three Spectral detectors 10x to 100x objectives (dry, water, oil) Environmental chamber for live cells	Zeiss LSM 780 upright confocal microscope System is optimized for in vivo imaging High sensitivity GaAsP spectral array detector Upright fixed stage Axio Examiner microscope Water and low mag dry objectives 405, Ar/2, 561, 633 laser lines
Leica SP8 confocal microscope High sensitivity point scanning confocal Upright microscope 405, Ar/2, 561, 633 laser lines Spectrally tunable emission bands Conventional and resonant scanners Four Spectral detectors 2.5x to 100x objectives	Zeiss LSM 780 inverted confocal microscope Confocal imaging of fixed or live samples Inverted microscope with incubation High sensitivity GaAsP spectral array detector Definite focus for time lapse 405, Ar/2, 561, 633 laser lines
Zeiss LSM 510 inverted confocal microscope Inverted microscope 405, Ar/2, 561, 594, 633 lasers 10x dry to 100x oil objectives Ideal for multicolour imaging of fixed samples Motorized stage	Zeiss LSM 510 upright confocal microscope Generally reserved for experiments where a live specimen is imaged over a period of several hours. Upright microscope Water objectives ideal for living specimens UV, Ar/2, 543, 633 laser lines
Zeiss LSM 710 inverted confocal microscope Inverted microscope 405, Ar/2, 561, 594, 633 lasers 10x dry to 100x oil objectives Motorized stage Environmental chamber for live cells	Olympus FV1000 multiphoton system FV1000 MPE exclusive (no visible lasers or descanned detectors) BX61WI microscope stand 25x/1.05 Multiphoton optimized objective Tunable Chameleon Vision II laser with pulse compensation Four non-descanned detectors Lifetime imaging . . .
Spinning disk confocal microscope High-speed multidimensional imaging with optical sectioning Spinning disk modality produces high SNR images with minimal photobleaching Range of lenses including silicon oil 60X High sensitivity EMCCD camera Laser lines for all classes of fluorscent proteins Incubation for mammalian cells IR reflection based autofocus	PicoQuant TCSPC Lifetime imaging Time-domain (TCSPC) fluorescence lifetime measurements NDD PMT FLIM detector using a pulsed multiphoton laser on the Olympus FV1000 system SymPhoTime analysis software Time-Tagged Time-resolved principle Intermolecular FRET measurements
DeltaVision Widefield imaging of living and fixed samples Optimized deconvolution Solid-state illumination, fast excitation switching Temperature, humidity, CO2 control Hardware-based autofocus High-precision XYZ stage Dual cameras - high-resolution and high-sensitivity 405 nm and 488 nm lasers for photoactivation and photo-bleaching experiments Optical axis integration/z-sweep acquisition	Leica AM TIRF MC system 4 channel TIRF imaging (405, 488, 561, 635) Automated alignment Variable TIRF depth EM-CCD camera Environmental chamber
Live cell station Inverted Zeiss Axio Observer microscope Environmental chamber for live cells Filter sets for all fluorescent proteins 10x to 100x objectives (dry, oil) EMCCD and high resolution CCD cameras Scanning stage - multiposition time lapse MetaMorph 7.6 software	Live cell station 2 Inverted Zeiss Axiovert 200 M microscope Environmental chamber for live cells Filter sets for all fluorescent proteins 10x to 63x objectives (dry, oil) Scanning stage - multiposition time lapse MetaMorph 7.6 software
Olympus VivaView incubator microscope Incubator based system for long-term timelapse DIC and Fluorescence Multiposition imaging, up to 8 dishes Low magnifcation dry lens MetaMorph software Liquid handling - change solution or add drug	Laser capture microdissection Cut and extract regions of a tissue UV (355 nm) cutting beam Non-contact capture
Zeiss Axio Imager widefield fluorescence microscope Upright microscope Filter sets for wide variety of fluorophores 10x dry to 100x oil objectives Stepper for Z-stacks Colour camera for histology slides MetaMorph 7.6 software	Zeiss Axio Observer widefield fluorescence microscope Inverted microscope Slide and multi-well plate holder Phase contrast and DIC Filter sets for wide variety of fluorophores 10x dry to 100x oil objectives MetaMorph 7.6 software
Leica DMI 4000 inverted fluorescence microscope Multi-channel widefield fluorescence imaging Multi-well plate holder for TC cell documentation Manipulation and microinjection	Zeiss Lumar.V12 stereoscope High performance stereoscope Fluorescence, transmitted and reflected light Red and Green fluorescence filters Digital cameras (colour and fluorescence) with AxioVision 4.6 image acquisition software
Olympus SZ61 dissecting microscope Simple system for sample preps Low magnification imaging	Image analysis workstations Six dedicated workstations are available for analysis and processing of data. Software available - MetaMorph, Huygens SVI deconvolution, Imaris, Volocity, FIJI ImageJ, Zeiss LSM Image Examiner, Photoshop, Illustrator, MatLab 64-bit systems with >24GB RAM and Multiple Quad core processors for large datasets

Other resources available at Duke

Electron microscopy available at Duke

High resolution SEM, TEM and AFM are available at the Shared Materials Instrumentation Facility (SMIF). Please contact SMIF to use any of these resources.

Histology resources

The Department of Pediatrics houses a core offering microtomes, cryostats, a vibratome and an embedding center. Instruction in the use of these instruments is available and once trained users are able to operate the instruments independently.

Materials microscopes in SMIF

LMCF works closely with SMIF to provide microscopes optimized for materials/engineering applications. Capabilities available in SMIF include:

Reflected light brightfield, darkfield and DIC
Fluorescence
Digital image capture and measurement
Dust-free environment

ImageStream flow microscope

Amnis ImageStream system - flow cytometer that takes images

Imaging Centers and Institutes at Duke University