Fluorescence Microscope_Multi Gene expression in thick samples in 3D (ITT/673).

Descriptions

We require an imaging system to observe gene expression in thick samples and report gene activity in the 3D context. These samples include (but are not limited to) Arabidopsis roots ca. 0.3 mm thick, Arabidopsis and barley anthers, Drosophila and zebrafish embryos. This instrument will be primarily used to follow gene expression for plant work, and it is vital that the sample chamber is maintained at a temperature (18-20 °C) and lighting range suitable for plant growth. Lighting schemes will differ between experiments, therefore it is required that both the wavelength and intensity can be specified by the user.Multi gene imaging is essential.Speed of image acquisition and photobleacing are critical. As we will making large reconstructions of organisms over long periods of time (up to 72h) it is essential that excitation of the sample is restricted to the in-focus plane. Image acquisition times must be rapid and the system must be capable of collecting information from multiple flourophores simultaneously.As this will be a multi-user facility we will image samples under a series of conditions. It is essential that we have both wet and dry objectives that cover a range of magnifications necessary to image samples such as plant roots (0.3 mm thick and several cm long) to embryos less than 1 mm. As the roots will be grown within the sample chamber we require the ability to grow plants in an upright position (rather than mounted on a glass slide) and require the capabilities of reposition the imaging frame as roots grow down.For a multi-user facility we require user-friendly software with a graphical interface to drive the machine. We require an offline workstation for image analysis, and software tools to run off line image analysis on at least three separate machines located at different research institutions. This analysis includes deconvolution and 3D reconstruction.