Confocal laser scanning microscope

• Subject Area: Medicine
• Term: Funded in 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 467868420

Currently, there is no imaging facility at the Medical School of the University of Tübingen. Existing confocal microscopes are either outdated, fully booked or located in laboratories with restricted access (S2 and S3 labs). Hence, we wish to acquire a new confocal accessible to everyone. This confocal needs to be capable of resolving particularly small structures such as cilia and centrosomes with high sensitivity and a great dynamic range. It is required to excite and detect fluorophores at any wave length ranging from 405 to 680 nm and is supposed to scan very quickly in order to image dynamic processes in living cells and zebrafish embryos. Very importantly, the new confocal should facilitate processing (deconvolution, animated movies) and quantification of three dimensional imaging. It is essential that the confocal allows for distinguishing fluorophores with overlapping spectra such as GFP and Alexa 488 so that existing, fluorescently tagged reporter lines may be counterstained using established immunofluorescence protocols. The confocal will be located in the Pharamcogenomics labs next to a cell culture lab and a state-of-the-art zebrafish facility with injection setups. This will allow confocal analyses in fixed as well as living cells as well as zebrafish embryos.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Konfokales Laser-Scanning-Mikroskop
• Instrumentation Group: 5090 Spezialmikroskope
• Applicant Institution: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
• Leader: Professorin Dr. Melanie Philipp