Sensitive and rapid sCMOS camera for fluorescence fluctuation imaging

这笔NSERC RTI赠款将支持购买一台背照式sCMOS相机，以取代无法操作和过时的电子倍增电荷耦合器件(EMCCD)相机，用于我们的主要实验室显微镜上的荧光成像。几乎所有的手机摄像头都使用了cmos图像传感器来捕捉图像。在过去的十年里，这种光探测技术的快速发展直接导致了我们想要购买的最先进的科学CMOS(SCMOS)相机。新的背照式scmos相机对大部分可见光光谱的光检测具有95%的量子效率，它们具有更大的检测区域(更多像素)，更快的帧速率，甚至比EMCCD相机更便宜。他们的噪声响应已经提高到了这样的程度，除了最微弱的样本外，他们都超过了EMCCD的检测。因此，这款新相机将加强NSERC Discovery资助的荧光探针动力学的荧光波动成像研究，传输测量数据，绘制细胞中荧光生物分子的运动图，甚至通过荧光探针发射闪烁的灵敏和快速成像，实现亚衍射分辨率成像和单分子定位。它将促进我们自己的NSERC支持的研究项目和合作的继续和扩大，这些项目和合作都依赖于定量荧光显微镜成像，这是我们实验室的核心。

This NSERC RTI grant will support the purchase of a back illuminated sCMOS camera to replace an inoperable and obsolete electron multiplying charged coupled device (EMCCD) camera for fluorescence imaging on our main lab microscope. CMOS image sensors are used in almost all cell phone cameras to capture images. The very rapid advance of this light detection technology in the past decade has led directly to the state of the art scientific CMOS (sCMOS) camera that we wish to purchase. The new back illuminated sCMOS cameras are 95% quantum efficient for light detection across much of the visible light spectrum, they have a larger detection area (more pixels), have more rapid frame rates and are even less expensive than EMCCD cameras. Their noise response has improved to the point where they surpass EMCCD detection for all but the faintest samples. Thus this new camera will enhance NSERC discovery grant funded research on fluorescence fluctuation imaging of fluorescent probe kinetics, transport measurements mapping movements of fluorescent biomolecule in cells and even allow sub-diffraction resolution imaging and single molecule localization via sensitive and rapid imaging of fluorescent probe emission blinking. It will foster the continuation and expansion of our own NSERC supported research projects and collaborations which all depend on quantitative fluorescence microscopy imaging which is the core of our lab.