Leica TCS SP8 Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope

Baluch, Debra

Abstract

Laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) was first introduced to Arizona State University in 1997 through the formation of the WM Keck Bioimaging Laboratory. Since that time this facility has provided services to over 150 research labs both at ASU as well as with collaborators throughout Arizona. Although the primary users of the lab primarily fall into molecular, cellular, developmental, and neuroscience programs, there has been almost a twenty percent increase in researchers from the biomedical, engineering and the physical sciences who have become routine users of the confocal microscopes within the last five years. This facility has served as the only shared core laboratory since 2014 that provides confocal microscopy to researchers on the Tempe campus. The Keck lab strives to not only provide the most current instrumentation to its users so they are able to achieve their research objectives, but it continues to develop and enhance the equipment it provides to researchers so they have the opportunity to incorporate new and developing microscopy techniques as well as acquire equipment that can be readily upgraded to accommodate the potential needs required by new faculty or current researchers who have enhanced needs. This proposal is requesting funds to acquire a Leica SP8 inverted LSCM with a stage top incubation chamber, tandem scanner and sensitive GaAsP detectors enabling our primary NIH funded researchers to not only obtain their fixed cell images but to more easily incorporate live cell imaging of their samples as described in their research summaries. This capability has been very limited to researchers at the Tempe campus but acquisition of this system by our core laboratory will provide a resource not previously available and will pave the way for the next generation of NIH funded researchers.

Public Health Relevance

This proposal is to request funds for the purchase of a Leica TCS SP8 Spectral AOBS Tandem Scanner confocal microscope that will be housed in the W.M. Keck Bioimaging Laboratory which is a multi-user core facility at Arizona State University. The major users of this facility are NIH funded biomedical researchers and the acquisition of this equipment will not only ensure they have the instrumentation available to acquire image data of fixed samples but will also enable them to acquire live cell time lapse series images in a controlled environment. The requested new Leica SP8 will be fundamental to not only secure state of the art confocal laser scanning microscopy for NIH funded PIs, but to generally provide this much needed resource at one of the largest state universities in the United States.