We have expanded significantly into optical microscopy and developed a dedicated microscopy lab. We have a variety of commercial microscopes and systems which have been developed in-house to allow specialised investigations.
Please see below for more information on our microscopes systems.
Optical microscopy
- Bio-mechanical microscope (BMM)
- Olympus fluorescence microscope
- Leica fluorescence microscope
- Polarising microscope
- Other microscopes
The BMM is based around a Nikon TE2000 inverted fluorescence microscope. It is used to manipulate and probe the micro-mechanics of membranes. The system can be used successfully to investigat both model lipid membrane giant vesicles and living cells.
The microscope has both epi-fluorescence illumination with a variety of visible and UV filter sets and bright filed Hoffman modulation contrast optics giving extreamly clear imaging of aspirated unilamellar vesicles.
A custom produced sample holder gives precise temperature control via water circulation. The sample holder is fitted to a precission motorised stage.
The test membrane is probed by applying a negative pressure via a fine micropipette, by measuring the applied pressure and the distance that the membrane is aspirated (sucked up the pipette) various micro-mechanical parameters can be extracted such as area expansivity modulus and bending rigidity.
The micropipette is positioned using a three axis precission micromanipultor with a specified resolution of 25nm while the pressure is applied using an in-house developed motorised manometer system with an ultra-high resolution pressure transducer to measure the applied pressure.
Images are recorded at high speed (up to 160 frames per second) with a digital firewire CCD camera.
The system is integrated and controlled using in-house developed software. This allows control and triggering of pressure, image capture and microscope components which can allow multi-channel imaging of complete aspiration progressions.
Contact Us
For more information, please contact one of the Group Leaders: