Morphology Core Facility

The Morphology Core Facility provides instrumentation and technical expertise for the preparation, acquisition and analysis of images of cells and tissues at the light microscopic level. Given the cost of such instrumentation and the high level of technical expertise required to perform these investigational techniques, this Core was established to ensure the availability of these techniques for Center members. In recognition of the broad usefulness of this Core facility, the School of Medicine has partnered with the Liver Center by making ongoing, major investments to ensure that the facility remains state-of-the-art.

• Confocal Microscopy
• Two Photon Microscopy
• Super-resolution Microscopy
• Swept Field Microscope
• Light Sheet Microscope
• Image Processing and Analysis
  
• Other microscopy tools including: epifluorescence microscopy, cryosectioning, and brightfield microscopy

Confocal, Super-resolution, and Multiphoton Imaging:

• Leica SP8 Gated STED super-resolution microscope
• Zeiss LSM 880 AiryScan Fast microscope
• Bruker Vutara 352 (PALM/STORM) super-resolution microscope
• Buker Opterra II (Swept-field confocal microscope)
• Bruker Luxendo MuVi SPIM Lightsheetmicroscope
• Leica Stellaris 8 DIVE two photon microscope
• Leica SP5 confocal microscope

In addition to the imaging acquisition equipment, the Morphology Core also houses 4 PC workstations dedicated to image analysis. Software from Zeiss (ZEN blue), Leica (LAS X), Bitplane (Imaris), SVI (Huygens Deconvolution) and ImageJ are available to users for post-acquisition image analysis, which include modules for fluorescence deconvolution, 3D rendering, measurements of time lapse data and fluorescence co-localization. Technical expertise is available to aid in the use of the equipment and image analysis software.

Epifluorescence Microscopy, including quantitative and ratio imaging:

• Zeiss Axio Observer epifluorescence microscope
• Olympus BX51 multi-headed brightfield microscope
• Zeiss Discovery 8 SteReo dissecting microscope
• Leica CN-1860 cryostat

For training and access to this equipment, please contact Mateus Guerra.