Fully automated fluorescence zoom microscope

慕尼黑工业大学正在申请一台直立式荧光变焦研究显微镜，以研究生命和人工流动网络中流动和网络结构之间的相互作用。在新任命的物理学教授Karen Alim博士的指导下，该显微镜将补充Garching校区研究大楼“功能蛋白质组装中心”的现有基础设施，设计用于大样品场的显微镜。现代荧光变焦显微镜可以在高荧光亮度下实现大样品场的分辨率。独立的透射光照明和自动快门允许荧光和明场图像的并行组合，从而解决样品随时间的正交特性。最新的技术发展甚至允许通过结构化照明通过宏观荧光样品进行光学切片，从而实现样品的三维分辨率。荧光变焦显微镜专为多细胞样品的研究而量身定制，并提供对多细胞生物形态的独特见解。在模式生物多头绒泡菌中，该技术将用于研究活流网络中的流如何反馈其网络架构。其目的是确定网络架构如何确定流量及其传输特性，以及流量相关的剪切力和压力以及可溶性信使的传输如何反馈到网络架构上。这种相互作用的物理原理将在可控多孔介质和智能材料的技术应用中的人工流网络上进行测试。

The Technical University of Munich is here applying for an upright fluorescence zoom research microscope to study the interaction between flow and network architecture in living and artificial flow networks. Under the direction of the newly appointed physics professor Prof. Dr. Karen Alim, the microscope will complement the existing infrastructure at the Research Building “Center for Functional Protein Assemblies” on the Garching campus with a microscope designed for large sample fields.Modern fluorescence zoom microscopy enables the resolution of large sample fields at high fluorescence brightness. Independent transmitted light illumination and automated shutters allow the combination of fluorescence and brightfield images in parallel, thus resolving orthogonal properties of a sample over time. The latest technical developments even allow optical sections through macroscopic fluorescence samples by structured illumination and thus a three-dimensional resolution of samples. Fluorescence zoom microscopes are tailored to the investigation of multicellular samples and provide unique insights into the morphology of multicellular organisms. In the model organism Physarum polycephalum, this technique will be used to investigate how flows in living flow networks feed back on their network architecture. The aim is to identify how the network architecture determines the flows and its transport properties and how flow-related shear forces and pressures as well as the transport of soluble messengers feed back on the network architecture. The physical principles of this interaction will be tested on artificial flow networks for technical applications in controllable porous media and for smart materials.