Microscopy

The purpose of the Southern Maine Regional Confocal Microscopy Facility (SMRCMF) is to provide interested biomedical researchers in Southern Maine with access to modern methods of confocal microscopy, which allows the identification of the spatial localization of specific biological macromolecules in all types of animal and plant cells.

Services Available

• multicolor confocal colocalization
• FRET
• live cell confocal microscopy

Leica SP8

The system is based on an inverted microscope and equipped with Acousto-Optical Beam Splitter, which delivers bright, noise-free images with minimal photodamage. The system includes a 405 nm laser and a Ludin chamber for live cell observation and a dedicated computer with IMARIS program for deconvolution and 3D reconstruction.

Leica SP1

The system includes an upright microscope and is upgraded with an addition of a unique 442 nm laser, which optimizes FRET experiments using CFP.

The establishment of SMRCMF was made possible with a grant from the Maine Science and Technology Foundation which was matched by Maine Medical Center. Other grant participants included the University of Southern Maine and IDEXX Laboratories. This grant was used to purchase a Leica SP1 confocal microscope.