BSL3 microscopy

[Craig Brideau]

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There are some potential security issues with this, but occasionally we use
remote desktop to run scopes from other rooms.

Craig


On Sun, Jan 16, 2011 at 7:46 AM, George McNamara
<[hidden email]>wrote:

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>
> Hi Simon,
>
> Leave the eyepieces in the drawer and teach your users to use the live
> camera images. Would also be useful to have an identical microscope in the
> main lab that users can learn on and adapt to.
>
> You can also take a tip from Sedat lab's and Applied Precision's use of a
> "scout scope". More practically, in your BSL3 system, low magnification lens
> and/or motorized XY(Z) tile scanning.
>
> You could take this even further by having a duplicate computer monitor,
> keyboard, mouse, etc, outside the BSL3 space. Preferably with the microscope
> on the other side of a window from the non-3 station. Same ideas would apply
> to a microscope in a GMP facility (which is the idea came from).
>
> George
>
> p.s. Are you really studying flour in there? ... flourescence
>
>
> On 1/14/2011 9:32 AM, Watkins, Simon C wrote:
>
>> *****
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>> Folks, I am about to install an advanced imaging system (sweptfield
>> confocal and widefield imaging combo) in a biosafety level 3 facility.  To
>> work in the facility one has to suit up and wear a rigid face mask, as the
>> cells/pathogens will be on the scope and may be open to the environment.
>>  This means that the eyepieces of the scope are essentially useless.  I
>> wonder if any other listers have dealt with this problem and what their
>> solution was? Obviously the widefield camera will help a lot, but it doesnt
>> allow survey of the full field of view, as we are doing mostly flourescence
>> a video camera isnt much use.... back in the day, there were some screen
>> solutions....
>> Looking for creative ideas
>> S.
>>
>> Simon C. Watkins Ph.D, FRC Path
>> Professor and Vice Chair Cell Biology and Physiology
>> Professor Immunology Director Center for Biologic Imaging
>> BSTS 225
>> University of Pittsburgh
>> 3500 Terrace St
>> Pittsburgh PA 15261
>> 412-352-2277
>> www.cbi.pitt.edu<http://www.cbi.pitt.edu>
>>
>>
>>
>

[David Baddeley]

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If you're not prepared to wait / fork out the cash for a colour scientific CMOS sensor, it might be worth
giving a modern DSLR a go - their low light performance is getting seriously impressive. I've been able to
get good images of 100nm green fluorescent beads (Invitrogen) using my EOS500D on the side port of our
fluorescence microscope. I think I needed an exposure time of ~1-2s for really good images, but could still
discern the beads both when using the cameras 'live view' (video rate preview with mirror locked up) mode
and in full images taken at lower integration times (I think I went down to ~20 ms, but would have to check
back in the files to be certain). It's got a 1.8" CMOS sensor which means the chip area was somewhat
larger than the FOV when used without any intermediate optics.

cheers,
David