Confocal laser scanning microscope with photon-counting and lifetime measuring capabilities

波茨坦大学理学院(例如生物化学和生物研究所)开展的研究活动的很大一部分通常需要应用荧光显微镜。具体来说，共聚焦荧光显微镜经常被用来研究生物体内动态的亚细胞过程。波茨坦大学目前运营着五台共焦显微镜，由大约15个研究小组以分散的方式共享。其中三台显微镜预计将在未来几年内退役，从2023年开始，因为供应商不保证对这些较旧型号的维修。为此，我们建议用一种新的共聚焦激光扫描显微镜来取代其中的一台，该显微镜配备了多个光子计数探测器，在光谱的红外区也很灵敏，并且有一个共振扫描器。这些功能是在高时间分辨率下执行定量显微分析所必需的，从而保持波茨坦大学在生物医学研究方面的竞争力。此外，所提出的显微镜还应该能够测量荧光寿命。目前波茨坦大学现有的任何显微镜装置都不具备这一特征，这将使从事生物样本工作的所有研究小组受益匪浅，这些样本包括：i)需要多重标记和检测几个分子物种，或ii)具有强背景信号和自发荧光的特征(例如细菌和植物样本)。

A significant part of the research activity carried out at the Faculty of Science of the University of Potsdam (for example, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology) routinely requires the application of fluorescence microscopy. Specifically, confocal fluorescence microscopy is regularly used to investigate dynamic subcellular processes in living organisms. The University of Potsdam currently operates five confocal microscopes which are shared among ca. 15 research groups in a decentralized manner. Three of these microscopes are expected to be decommissioned in the next few years, starting in 2023, due to the fact that the supplier will not guarantee repairs of these older models. For this reason, we propose to replace one of these microscope with a new confocal laser scanning microscope equipped with multiple photon-counting detectors, sensitive also in the infra-red region of the spectrum, and a resonant scanner. These features are required to perform quantitative microscopic analysis at high temporal resolution and, thus, keep the University of Potsdam competitive in the context of bio-medical research. Furthermore, the proposed microscope should also be capable of measuring fluorescence lifetime. This feature is currently not present in any of the microscope setups available in the University of Potsdam and will strongly benefit all the research groups working with biological samples that i) require multiplex labelling and detection of several molecular species or ii) are characterized by strong background signal and autofluorescence (e.g. bacteria and plant samples).