The recently introduced cell^R Imaging Station by Olympus Soft Imaging Solutions (OSIS) as a high end microscopy system for the multi-dimensional investigation of dynamic biological processes has been tested by the Advanced Light Microscopy Facility (ALMF) for various bio-medical applications and has proven to be a very useful tool for researchers at European Molecular Biology Laboratories (EMBL) and visiting scientists.
The strength of the system results from the combination of a unique and highly sophisticated light source that controls stable excitation and fast light switching and a dedicated processor unit allowing for the integration and time optimized co-ordination of the numerous tasks necessary to successfully perform experiments with living samples.
Stable illumination is a prerequisite to a number of quantitative methods such as deconvolution, ratio imaging, Foerster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) measurements and spectral un-mixing. The latter method is implemented on a commercially available wide field imaging system for the first time in cell^R and has proven to be a very useful tool for applications involving multiple GFP variants.
Using the analysis package from OSIS- which provides a broad functionality for image processing, data management and display - as a platform, the developers managed to expand and integrate what is required for living sample microscopy. The result is the cell^R software. A surprisingly simple and intuitive graphical scripting interface allows the assembly of complex experimental protocols to control all parts of fully automated microscopes and a multitude of external devices for physiological experiments. These protocols are interpreted, thereby generating a highly time optimized orchestration of events, which is the key feature in applications involving living samples.
Overall, cell^R is a highly integrated system resulting from the experiences of many researchers and engineers gained over the past decade, combined with the profound knowledge of the microscope developers and application specialists at Olympus BioSystems. The ALMF team is proud to have contributed to the concept of cell^R at various stages of its development and highly recommends it as a very flexible and reliable system for both cutting edge microscopy applications and routine use.
Dr. Rainer Pepperkok & Dr. Jens Rietdorf,
almf@embl.de
ALMF - Advanced Light Microscopy Facility
EMBL - European Molecular Biology Laboratory
Heidelberg, Germany
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