An inverted microscope for research in algal ecology and cell biology

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Microscopes are basic tools needed in many areas of science. One type of microscope that enables the examination of live and/or delicate organisms, cells or tissues is the inverted microscope. An inverted microscope is a microscope with its light source and condenser above the specimen stage pointing down; the objective lenses are below the stage and point upwards underneath the stage, hence the term "inverted". This proposal is for an inverted microscope to advance research in algal ecology and cell biology (plant and animal) by professors and students in the Department of Biology, University of Ottawa and in the Center for Advanced Research in Environmental Genomics, where the microscope would be located. The inverted microscope would include fluorescence, phase contrast and DIC (differential interference contrast or Nomarksi) capabilities as well as a camera and image analysis system in order to visualize and capture high quality quantitative data on natural communities of microbes, natural or cultured populations of cells, and individual plant and animal cells as well as proteins involved in key cellular functions.