About the microscopy facility
The Microscopy Facility is equipped with several light and fluorescence microscopes, including a Nikon C1 Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope.
The facility has a dedicated staff member, Dr Alex Bannigan, who can help faculty and students with the microscopy aspects of their research projects.
Before you can use the confocal microscope, you are required to undergo training with the Microscopy Director. Until Dr Bannigan is satisfied that you can safely run the equipment on your own, you will only be able to use it with supervision from either Dr Bannigan or another fully-trained user.
Please read the User Guidelines and fill out a registration form
before your first training session. Training sessions can be booked by contacting Dr Bannigan (email: bannigax@jmu.edu | phone: 540-586 4521 )
See the "resources" page for instructions for using the microscopes.
Equipment
The Nikon C1 confocal microscope is equipped with:
- Nikon eclipse TE2000 inverted microscope
- X-cite exfo fluorescent light source
- epifluorescence filters for imaging UV, green, red and far red light
- differential interference contrast (DIC) imaging
- motorized focus
- moveable stage
- Roper Scientific CoolSnap HQ monochrome digital camera
- Nikon DSFi1 color digital camera
- 404nm, 488nm, 561nm and 636nm lasers
- Spectral detector
Also housed in the microscopy facility are:
- Zeiss Axioskop upright fluorescence microscope with color/BW digital camera and Spot software
- Zeiss Stemi dissecting microscope with 2 Megapixel color camera and Spot software
- Olympus Phase contrast microscope
- Several older DIC/fluorescence microscopes
Available Fluorescence Filter Blocks:
To check if fluorophores are compatible with these filters, try using Molecular Probes' Spectra Viewer.
Grant Information
The confocal microscope was purchased in 2006 with the funds from an NSF-MRI grant, entitled "Acquisition of a Spectral Imaging Confocal Microscope to Serve as a Regional Facility for Research and Education" (DBI-0619207) which awarded $358,005. The grant was submitted by P.I. Dr. Mark Gabriele and co-P.I.s: Dr. Jonathan Monroe, Dr. Brenda Ryals and Dr. Benjamin DeGraff.
Microscopy Facility, Biology Department, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA
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