Light imaging
State-of-the-art facilities delivering optical image acquisition from biological samples and data analysis.
Confocal and Advanced Light Microscopy Facility (CALM)
Based in: Queen's Medical Research Institute (QMRI) as part of SuRF
Facility manager/ lead contact: Dr Rolly Wiegand and Dr Kseniya Korobchevskaya
The CALM facility provides infrastructure and services for biological optical imaging. Using analytical techniques based on light microscopy, they produce scientific results and images with high spatio-temporal information from intact cells, tissues and organisms on a scale from several millimetres down to tens of nanometres, and with a temporal resolution of days to milliseconds.
CALM not only gives access to the technical systems and the expertise required for a wide range of imaging applications, but also provides assistance and advice with regard to:
- multi-dimensional, high-content image acquisition
- live specimen imaging
- fluorescent labelling techniques
- experimental design
- image restoration and data analysis
- microscopy-related training and teaching.
Centre for Regenerative Medicine Imaging Facility
Based in: Centre for Regenerative Medicine (CRM)
Facility manager/ lead contact: Dr Matthieu Vermeren
The CRM Imaging Facility provides microscopes for live or fixed, cell and tissue samples. The facility has a dissection microscope and two widefield microscopes rigged for fluorescence and classical histology.
With up to eight excitation laser lines and tuneable receptors, both the confocals (Leica SP8) can image large and thick as well as small samples. Users of the facility are looked after from experiment conception, where they are advised on best sample preparation, microscope usage and best image acquisition, to image analysis. Facility staff help users get the most of their experiments by supporting them all the way through.
As a service, the facility offers an X-Clarity machine, which turns large biological samples transparent, opening the capacity to image deep within a sample without cutting it. It also offers access to Alveole’s PRIMO system for micropatterning and microstructuration. With PRIMO, one can engineer the shape – in 2D and 3D - and composition of cell substrate.
Histological imaging and immunodetection
Based in: Queen's Medical Research Institute (QMRI) as part of SuRF
Facility manager/ lead contact: Mr Mike Miller and Ms Lyndsey Boswell
This service can meet the demands of histological imaging , immunohistochemical, immunofluorescent and multiplex staining on fixed cells and tissues. Using a combination of technical experience and robotic platforms, the following is offered to GLP standards:
- Histological imaging
- Primary antibody optimisation
- High throughput immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence
- Multiplex protein detection (Colourimetric or Fluorescent)
- Custom multiplex detection (e.g. mRNA and protein)
- RNAscope (mRNA detection)
- Functional assays such as TUNEL (apoptosis)
These methods are conducted using an extensive range of equipment that includes POLARIS multispectral slide scanners, Zeiss Axioscan Slide Scanners and confocal microscopes, wide-field microscopes, stereomicroscopes and PALM MicroBeam microdissection technology.
The experienced team also provide training to use the equipment and offer to share their expertise in designing experiments and costing grants.
Histological imaging and immunodetection website
Advanced Imaging Resource
Based in: Institute of Genetics and Cancer (IGC)
Facility manager/ lead contact: Dr Ann Wheeler
The Advanced Imaging Resource is a consortium of imaging facilities within IGC. It works together with the Phenotypic Discovery Facility and the Centre for Comparative Pathology facilities and is a partner in the Edinburgh Super-Resolution Imaging Consortium, providing access to super-resolution optical imaging platforms.
The consortium is able to support imaging ranging from model organisms through to sub-cellular structures utilising cutting-edge imaging tools and technologies. It houses the following imaging systems:
- light, epifluorescence and confocal microscopes for live and fixed experiments
- advanced imaging techniques such as FRET, FRAP, FLIM and FCS
- multi-photon confocal microscope and Stimulated Raman spectroscopy
- a super-resolution microscopy suite for imaging samples smaller than 120nm
- a mesoscopy suite featuring MicroCT, OPT and macroscopes
- conditional imaging and fluorescent and bight field slide scanning
- bio image analysis and informatics.
The Advanced Imaging Resource also offers opportunities for training to enable researchers to engage with the latest technologies through workshops, on site demonstrations of new equipment and close liaison with its industrial partners. As well as this, consortium members teach in the internationally recognised ESRIC Super-resolution Summer School.
The facility is staffed by a manager, highly skilled scientific officers and an image informatician to provide scientific support for research.
Advanced Imaging Facility IGC website