confocal laser-scanning microscope

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This is a proposal for a confocal laser scanning microscope in an upright configuration to be installed at the central imaging unit at the Institute for Anatomy and Cell Biology of the Medical Faculty (FB11) of the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen. It shall replace a confocal laser scanning microscope bought in 2003 for which maintenance is no longer been offered and which does not meet nowadays requirements of state-of-the-art research projects of the applying working groups. It will be run by the central imaging unit of the Institute for Anatomy and Cell Biology which also offers service to all members of the faculty. The research projects of the users cover a wide spectrum of topics in cell biology, including signal transduction in brush cells and brush cell effector functions in trachea, gallbladder and urethra, immune cell interactions in the male reproductive tract, tissue-specific molecular composition and function of peroxisomes, and role of cGMP-dependent signaling and smooth muscle with particular focus on the male genital tract. All these projects have in common a high need of fluorescence microscopic imaging with discrimination of multiple fluorescent dyes at high spatial resolution and allowing for elimination of background fluorescence, which is enabled by state-of-the-art confocal laser scanning microscopes. The projects require simultaneous imaging of often four and up to seven fluorophores, among them dyes with excitation in the UV range and others with emission in the far-red range. This results in the need of a wide excitation range, which will be covered best by a white light laser plus an UV diode laser. A white light laser is also needed for techniques for fast elimination of background autofluorescence signals. Life imaging of explanted organs plays a central role in some projects, resulting in the need of an upright microscope configuration, additional dip-in objective lenses, and a temperature-controlled perfusion chamber on the microscope stage.