Confocal Microscopy

Zeiss LSM 510 Meta laser scanning confocal microscope 

This fluorescence microscope is used primarily for imaging fluorescent probes, conjugates, and proteins in cells and tissues, though it also has non-biological fluorescence applications.  It can automatically collect a series of in-focus fluorescence images from thin optical slices at different depths within relatively thick specimens (typically at least 100 um) to create z-stacks. 3-D re-constructions and maximum intensity projections can then be generated from the z-stacks. Multiple fluorophores (2-4 typically, 8 theoretically) excited in the visible wavelength range can be imaged simultaneously. A spectral detector allows fluorophores with overlapping emission spectra to be distinguished from one another.