Microscopy and Histology Core Facility - University of Aberdeen

Delighted to have our new ZEISS Microscopy Celldiscoverer 7 up and running, now installed alongside the KX-2 robot and Cytomat “cell hotel” following another successful BBSRC ALERT equipment award ⭐️

It’s a really flexible setup; confocal imaging with 4 laser lines, widefield with 7 LEDs, plus Airyscan for added resolution. It has full temperature control (cooling and heating) as well as CO2 and O2 modules. The combination of guided acquisition and mixed imaging modalities should open up a lot of possibilities, especially for live-cell and higher-throughput work 🔬

The Cytomat “cell hotel” has capacity for up to 30 plates, helping keep experiments running smoothly over longer time courses.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone does with it!

For more information or to discuss access, get in touch at [email protected] 🙂

Something big arrived this week… 👀📦 📦 📦 📦

It’s taken months of work from multiple people, plenty of paperwork, and a lot of anticipation, and it has finally rolled through the door.

And this is only part 1… the next piece of the system will be delivered and installed in a few weeks 😃

We won’t say what it is just yet, but it’s going to open up some incredible possibilities.

Stay tuned. More soon. ✨

We’ve been so busy in the Microscopy and Histology Facility at the University of Aberdeen recently that we’ve barely had time to post!

Here’s a glimpse of what’s been keeping us occupied - from preparing samples and imaging cells and tissues to testing new techniques and running image analysis workshops.

No two days are ever the same in the world of microscopy! 🔬✨

Women in Scotland have contributed to science in remarkable ways.

Meet:

🥼 June Almeida: Glaswegian expert in identifying viruses

💷 Mary Somerville: Mathematical genius featured on £10 notes

⭐ Williamina Fleming: Star cataloger

…to name a few!

Read more about lives of these pioneering scientists and the objects we hold in our collection, over on our website: https://www.nms.ac.uk/discover-catalogue/8-women-in-scotland-who-shaped-the-history-of-science

📷 Glaswegian virologist June Almeida. Photo by Norman James/Toronto Star via Getty images

Many thanks to everyone who attended our Microscopy Course this week! We really enjoyed everyone’s enthusiasm, it was great to have so much interest in what we have to offer 🙂🔬

Special thanks to Jenny, Fiona and Morgan who came along to share their experience, images and research with our attendees! 🤩

Today we officially launched our new BBSRC funded Lightsheet 7 here in Aberdeen! 🔬🧠🐸👁️🧫

It was great to chat to lots of people about new projects! 🤝🏼

Thanks to Mark from ZEISS and Robyn from Thermo Fisher for joining us, and also for supplying the refreshments 🍩🧁

If you’d like to discuss a potential project using our new Lightsheet 7, please get in touch 🙂

Something old.....

These cells were prepared for imaging many years ago, the slide currently lives on the desk next to our ZEISS Microscopy LSM880 confocal microscope. Despite it's age, and the fact it's been sitting out in the open for a long time, it still gives us beautiful images! 😍

These cells were imaged at x63 in Airyscan mode, the tubulin of the cytoskeleton and the nuclei are labelled.

We’ve had lots of fun being trained on our new Lightsheet 7 this week!

Thanks to Morgan from Tara Sutherland’s lab for supplying the lung slice for us to practice on 🫁😃🔬

This morning you’ll find us down at the Science Teaching Hub taking part in the Research Facilities Showcase event! Come down to see how the fantastic facilities at can enhance your research!

Absolutely delighted to take delivery of our new ZEISS Microscopy Lightsheet 7 earlier this month! 😃 Thanks to a successful BBSRC grant and a lot of hard work we have finally been able to bring this technology to Aberdeen.

The system is currently being installed in our new lab and in the meantime, we’ve been enjoying some online training ahead of the in-person training next month.

We’re looking forward to preparing samples and taking some awesome new images on the new Lightsheet 7! If you’d like to know more about it to see if it could enhance your research, please get in touch 🙂

Thanks so much to Eunchai from the Kang-Berg lab who presented at the Research Facilities Showcase on our behalf today 🤗

Showing off some beautiful images from our LSM880 🔬🧠😃