New Re-scan Confocal Microscopy modules from Confocal.nl are the feature of Booth 76 at this year’s Focus on Microscopy conference and exhibition being held at the QEII Centre in London, April 14-17 2019.
With the theme of “Improve Your Imaging Experience,” Confocal.nl will feature the next generation of Re-scan Confocal Microscopy (RCM) modules. Describing this new technology, co-founder and CTO, Dr Erik Manders says “We have taken our ground-breaking RCM module and doubled its field of view, upped its scan speed by 4x, integrated optimised deconvolution with the SVI Huygens software and introduced scanning in z. We are also pleased to announce the release of our infrared RCM module, the RCM-NIR.”
For those unable to attend the Focus on Microscopy (FOM2019) meeting, Confocal.nl are holding open-house demonstrations in their new office premises in The Netherlands on April 25. Located at the Science Park 106, 1098XG just minutes from the centre of Amsterdam, co-founder and CEO, Peter Drent, invites researchers to get an interactive demonstration of the new RCM modules. Drent says “we are pleased to collaborate with Nikon and Hamamatsu inviting folks to come and see new instrumentation in our custom-designed premises. Nikon is providing one of their Eclipse Ti2 microscopes while Hamamatsu will provide one of their Orca Flash 4 cameras. The demonstration will clearly show our commitment to excellence in imaging for the microscopy community. An example of this performance is shown here.”
The sample is courtesy of A Agostino from the Advanced Light Microscopy Facility, Science for Life Laboratory and C Hogg of the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm. Imaging and deconvolution by Erik Manders (Confocal.nl). For deconvolution, SVI Huygens software with RCM module was used.
“With our new modules we address some limitations that we had in the past regarding (1) field of view, (2) imaging speed, (3) spectral domain and (4) resolution. This is how we have approached these four key points:
(1) The classical way to increase the field of view is by image stitching (by use of an automatic scanning stage). For researchers who do not have this, we have created the new LARGE field of view option. The result is a regular confocal image (240 nm resolution) with twice the field of view of a regular RCM image.
(2) in order to increase the scanning speed, we have created the new FAST option. This gives 2 to 4 times increase in speed. Imaging speed of around 4 fps can be achieved. This provides full 170 nm resolution RCM imaging.
(3) in order to widen the spectral domain, we have created the RCM-NIR. This is a super resolution confocal microscope that is optimized to work in the 600 – 950 nm wavelength domain. It offers Z-sectioning and improved (40%) spatial resolution. Because of lower scattering in the NIR domain, the system is not only suited for deep imaging but is also ready for the newest generation of fluorescent dyes and fluorophores.
(4) Now we offer a dedicated RCM optimized deconvolution solution that increases the regular RCM resolution (170 nm) to a stunning 120 nm resolution!”
To learn about the Confocal.nl RCM module and how it may be configured into a high-performance scanning confocal imaging system, please visit Confocal.nl. This includes a detailed video describing the principle of RCM.