Welcome

An advanced fluorescence microscopy resource specializing in live cell imaging

Major instruments available in our facility:
Applied Precision DeltaVision-Real Time (RT) Deconvolution Microscope equipped with the Quantitative Laser Module (QLM) for photokinetics (photokinetic laser lines at 406 and 488 nm).
Olympus FV1000 Laser Scanning Confocal equipped with a second, photokinetic scan head (405 nm laser line) and two spectral scan emission detectors.
Custom built image-based high throughput screening microscope (screen three colors in three dimensions in a multi-well format).
Becton Dickinson FACSCalibur flow cytometer with four channel detection.
Supporting resources:
Bitplane AG Imaris software (version 5.0.3) for visualization, volume rendering, particle tracking, and co-localization analysis.
Huygens Professional image deconvolution software for deconvolution of data containing spherical aberration and easy inclusion of one’s own measured PSF into the deconvolution process. The MLE updating method in the Huygen’s deconvolution is especially useful for low signal to noise images, such as from live samples.
Applied Precision softWoRx Explorer Suite PC-based deconvolution and display software.
Applied Precision softWoRx Explorer Suite SGI-based deconvolution and visualization software.
Nikon Optiphot-2 Fluorescence Microscope with Retiga-1300 CCD camera and SimplePCI software for routine screening of samples and acquiring simple two-dimensional digital images.
Note these important changes:
While the Section of MCB still prints posters, the Imaging Facility no longer does this. All poster printing is now coordinated by Hemang Patel.
As of April 1, 2006 the Hitachi SEM is no longer be part of our facility. For questions about access to this instrument, please contact Samantha Barling-Silva, Imaging Facility Manager, Section of Plant Biology (sabarlingsilva@ucdavis.edu; 530-752-9046).

News and Upcoming Events (as of 27 October 2006)
Now installed: BitPlane AG Imaris 5.0.3 software with particle tracking, co-localization analysis and greatly-improved image segmentation. You are no longer stuck with simple (and generally unuseful) intensity thresholding to segment your image. Imaris reads all of the image formats in use in the Imaging Facility and is thus a natural hub for all your image visualization and analysis needs. For more on the Imaris software, visit here.
On loan from SVI: A Windows PC-based version of Huygens Essential deconvolution, visualization and analysis software. Essential has the most used features of Professional in a more intuitive, wizard-driven format which also allows batch processing.
November 13-17: Demo of VisiTech vt Infinity Array Scanning Confocal. A new multi-appeture confocal approach employing EM-CCD detection which appears to offer advantages over spinning disk scan heads. Find a description here. This instrument will be equipped with laser AOTF illumination and mounted on a Leica inverted microscope to also allow multi-wavelength TIRF. This instrument is being considered as a hybrid confocal/ fast widefield design for submission as an NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant in late Winter 2007.
December 18-22: Demo of 3-I Marianas Live Cell Imaging Workstation equipped with two EM-CCDs, laser AOTF illumination, and a Yokogawa spinning disk confocal scan head. This will be a competing design for the Shared Instrumentation Grant in late Winter 2007. Find a description here.
January 9-13: Demo of Leica AM TIRF and fast widefield system. This Leica Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence system is an unusually elegant solution to rapidly and reproducibly positioning the laser beam at different penetration depths (70-300 nm). Use of new Leica fast filter wheels should allow wavelength switching in 30-50 ms. Find a description here.

Welcome to the Imaging Facility run by the UC-Davis Section of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Our facility focuses on the imaging of biological specimens by light microscopy with a special emphasis on the fluorescence imaging of living cells. The facility is located in the Life Sciences (LS) building in rooms 1241 and 1242.

For more information, contact:

Michael Paddy, PhD, Scientific Coordinator, mrpaddy@ucdavis.edu, phone 530-754-6584

Jodi Nunnari, PhD, Chair of MCB Imaging Committee, jmnunnari@ucdavis.edu, 530-754-9774

College of Biological Sciences

University of California, Davis
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
(530) 752-3611

Last modified: October 27, 2006© UC Davis