Physik Instrumente (PI) is supplying linear and rotary stages for the Huisken Lab’s Flamingo light sheet microscopy project at the Morgridge Institute for Research in Madison, WI. This ambitious project, which is supported by several sponsors, aims to turn the idea of central research facilities upside down and makes travelling with sensitive samples obsolete, opening up this technique to a far broader range of research areas. Prof Jan Huisken, co-inventor of light sheet microscopy and Director of the Medical Engineering Department at the Morgridge Institute for Research, commented: “We aim to democratize high-end light microscopy, bringing it to campuses and labs for free.”
Flamingo essentially shrinks Light Sheet Fluorescence Microscopy (LSFM) – a tabletop-sized technology – down to the weight and dimensions of a suitcase. This portable shareable light sheet microscope can be shipped to a lab anywhere in the world to run one to three months of experiments, supported remotely by Morgridge engineers. “LSFM is a very powerful and flexible platform for gentle in vivo imaging, offering low phototoxicity and fast image acquisition,” Jan added. “Because of the gentle ‘treatment’ of the sample, LSFM is perfect for the examination of living organisms.”
Dr Thomas Bocher, Head of Segment Marketing Life Science & Microscopy at PI, commented: “We are delighted that PI was invited to become one of the sponsors of this project. The use of our precision drives in the Flamingo project is a further proof of their high acceptance, even in the most demanding microscopy applications”.
