Hi Vernita,
I agree with Julio. A Multi-photon system
would be more appropriate for your application but it all comes down to price
and at the time our lab could not afford the extra $700,000 or so for the
Multi-photon set up so we settled on a Zeiss 510 META instead and have been
able to do quite a bit of work on bacterial biofilms. Of course there are some
limitations, but if you simply cannot afford one it’s the next best
thing.
Kind regards,
Deanne.
From:
Sent: Friday, 2 April 2010 8:47 AM
To:
[hidden email]
Subject: Re: spinning-disk system
for probing bacterial samples
Hi Vernita,
You probably will want to try it out with your samples before you buy,
or at least try a similar system. Spinning disk systems are very nice for many
applications. However, if you are working with biofilms, they may not provide
sufficient penetration. Multi-photon systems will definitely get deeper into
such samples. If you don't need speed, a laser scanning confocal might also be
more appropriate, but it all depends on your needs. I have not worked with
bacterial biofilms, but if I had to guess, I would say that for such samples,
multiphoton would be better than laser scanning confocal, which would be better
than spinning disk, which would be better than conventional or deconvolution
fluorescence.
--
Julio Vazquez
On Apr 1, 2010, at 9:18 AM, Vernita Gordon wrote:
Hello,
I am starting my own lab this summer and thinking through what
equipment to buy with my initial startup funds. I am seriously
considering the purchase of a used spinning-disk confocal system because it
seems like a great system for the price. However, I also want to know
that it will be functional for my purposes, which will primarily be looking at
bacteria at different stages of biofilm formation (and thus at varying
densities and degrees of 3D structure), with probably some work on
fluroescently-labeled biomembranes as well.
I have never worked with a spinning-disk system; all my experience has
been with laser-scanning systems. Has anyone worked with biological
samples on a spinning-disk confocal, and can you tell me anything about image
quality (for both sparse and dense samples) and light dosage/damage to
biological systems? For my purposes, speed of acquisition is not that
important.
Thanks
Vernita
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