GLP Research Unit – Microscopy Laboratory

The microscopy laboratory of Kardio-Med Silesia has two advanced microscopes providing observations of cell cultures in culture dishes and on biomaterial scaffolds as well as imaging of the materials’ microstructure. The microscope laboratory includes Axio Observer (Zeiss) and Axio Zoom.V16 (Zeiss) microscopes equipped with additional modules and software to facilitate advanced techniques of imaging and documentation of the observed objects.

Axio Observer (Zeiss)

The Axio Observer is an inverted biological microscope with a transmitted light illuminator and a fluorescence illuminator. It is equipped with 5x, 10x, 20x, 40x and 63x objective lenses operating in phase contrast or Nomarski contrast technique, suitable for observation in both glass (thin-walled) dishes and polystyrene culture plates. The fluorescence module has a diode illuminator (excitation diodes: 735 nm, 630 nm, 590 nm, 555 nm, 475 nm, 430 nm, 385 nm) and a set fluorescent filter set DAPI, FITC, TRITC, CY5, eGFP, CY3. The automatic stage, in conjunction with the software, enables larger areas of slides to be scanned and the resulting images to be stitched together.

The Axio Observer is also equipped with an optical cross-sectioning module (operating in fluorescence), based on the principle of structured illumination (ApoTome.3), which allows spatial visualisation of the observed objects (e.g.: cells on a scaffold, tissue sections).

As an additional accessory, the microscope has an integrated incubation chamber with gas (CO₂, O₂) and temperature control to enable continuous observation and documentation of ongoing cell cultures. It is possible to conduct cell cultures under hypoxic conditions as well.

Axio Zoom.V16 (Zeiss)

The Axio Zoom.V16 is a stereoscopic microscope for observing objects in transmitted and reflected light, in bright and dark field, side illumination contrast with adjustable illumination angle and in polarised light. The optics provide a magnification range of 7x-258x. The fluorescence module uses a 200W halide illuminator and a set of fluorescence filters for DAPI, GFP and dsRED. An automatic stage, combined with software, allows larger areas of slides to be scanned and the resulting images to be stitched together. The microscope is equipped with a colour camera and high performance monochrome camera (Hamamatsu ORCA Flash 4.0) characterized by low-light sensitivity, and large dynamic range.

In addition, Axio Zoom.V16 is equipped with an optical sectioning module (operating in fluorescence), based on the principle of structured illumination (ApoTome.3), which allows spatial visualisation of the observed objects, a particularly useful function for imaging cells on tissue scaffolds.