MIU news

World news

Interesting imaging articles

Courses and seminars

- Our new Imaging Analyst, Eric Schwandt, will start on December 7. (23.11.2005)

- There are now proper DAPI/HOECHST-filters in microscopes 1 and 2 (22.11.2005)

- MIU is organizing Stallion live cell imaging platform user training on Tu, Dec. 13. For registration and more information, see Courses and seminars. (22.11.2005)

- MIU is organizing AutoDeBlur deconvolution software training on Fr, Dec. 9. For more information, see Courses and seminars. (22.11.2005).

- The summary of MIU workshop feedback can be found here. (9.11.2005)

- The summary of the MIU questionary (September 2005) can be found here. (27.10.2005)

- There are now user guides for MCBP microscopes 1-2 (Axioplan) and microscope 3 (Axiovert). The user guides cover basic functions of the microscopes and software. (26.10.2005)

- The former Microscope 3 (Axiovert 200) is no more available for general use because the new Stallion live cell imaging system has been installed to it. (21.10.2005)

- Microscope 4 (Axiovert 135) is now called Microscope 3. (21.10.2005)

- The dapi/hoechst excitation filter in Microscope 1 is defective, a dark area can be seen in the image. A new filter will be ordered. There is a proper dapi/hoechst filter available in Microscope 2. (17.11.2005)

- There is one more imaging workstation demo on Monday 31.10.2005 10:30-12:00 in MCBP seminar room on the 5th floor (B501a). You don't have to register for it. Topics are similar with earlier demos. (26.10.2005)

- New green HeNe laser is now installed (1.8.2005)

- HeNe1-laser (543 nm) of LSM510Meta confocal microscope is unavailable until August 2. (11.7.2005)

- AxioVision software (Microscopes 1 & 2) has been updated to version 4.4. (4.7.2005)

- MIU office will relocate from room B501b to room B505b on May 25, 2005. At the same time, all microscopy room instruments will be relocated to room B501b. Microscopy room microscopes cannot be used on Wednesday, May 25, in the afternoon during the relocation. On Wednesday morning, the doors will be switched so even though it is possible to use the microscopes, there will be light and other disturbances. (20.5.2005)

- MIU organizes the Second Meta Miniworkshop on 17.-20 May, 2005. (12.5.2005)

- New shorter address for MIU pages: www.miu.helsinki.fi. (27.4.2005)

- UV-light in microscope 3 (Axiovert 200) is functional again. (18.4.2005)

- New DAPI/Hoechst filter in microscope 2. (1.4.2005)

- The December issue of Nature Methods has a special focus section on fluorescence imaging. For more info, see links.

- Advanced Light Microscopy Course in Nov. 28-Dec. 2, 2005, is organized by the GSBM in Viikki. See GSBM course information. (17.11.2005)

- Takara Bio Inc. completed acquisition of Clontech. Clontech Laboratories products will be sold by Takara Bio after all the activites are transferred from BD to Takara. See Takara Bio news (10.11.2005)

- Max Planck Institute and Cellomics announce collaboration in HCS. Also, MPI-MCBG has purchased Cellomics' ArrayScan VTI with its BioApplications and HCi software. See Bionity web site (9.11.2005)

- Fisher Scientific International has acquired Cellomics. For more info, see Cellomics web site (2.11.2005)

- Invitrogen acquires Quantum Dot and BioPixels(R). See Invitrogen's press release (10.10.2005)

- Danaher has bought Leica Microsystems - read more on Danaher web site (12.7.2005)

- EMBLEM and Zeiss are commercializing a new kind of microscope technology called SPIM where the illumination comes from the side of the sample, eliminating blur in 3D-microscopy. See press release. (29.4.2005)

- BD-Clontech discontinued sales of enhanced fluorescent proteins (EGFP, ECFP, and EYFP) March 3rd, 2005. See BD's discontinuation notice . (30.3.2005)

Oliver Gessner , A. M. D. Lee , James P. Shaffer , Hanna Reisler , Sergey V. Levchenko, Anna I. Krylov , Jonathan G. Underwood , H. Shi , Allan L. L. East , D. M. Wardlaw , Ester t. H. Chrysostom , Carl C. Hayden , Albert Stolow. Femtosecond Multidimensional Imaging of a Molecular Dissociation. Science Express Dec. 22, 2005.

Nature Methods 2(12), 2005. The December issue of Nature Methods has a special focus section on fluorescent imaging with reviews and other articles discussing principles of fluorescence imaging with practical advice.

Valentin, G., Verheggen, C., Piolot, T., Neel, H., Coppey-Moisan, M. and Bertrand, E.. Photoconversion of YFP into a CFP-like species during acceptor photobleaching FRET experiments. Nature Methd. 2, 801(correspondence) (2005).

Lukyanov, K., Chudakov, D., Lukyanov, S. and Verkhusha, V. Photoactivatable fluorescent proteins. Nature Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 6, 885-890 (2005). (A review of available photoactivatable fluorescent proteins and their potential applications).

Liu, J.-Q. and Pollard, T. D. Counting cytokinesis proteins globally and locally in fission yeast. Science 310, 310-314 (2005). (The authors show that the fluorescence of functional fluorescent fusion proteins expressed from native promoters is directly proportional to the number of molecules in live yeast cells.)

Shekhawat, G. S. and Dravid, V. P. Nanoscale Imaging of Buried Structures via Scanning Near-Field Ultrasound Holography. Science 310, 89-92 (2005). A nondestructive imaging method called SNFUH (scanning near-filed untrasound holography) that provides depth information as well as spatial resolution at the 10- to 100-nanometer scale is described.

Sugiyama, Y., Kawabata, I., Sobue, K. and Okabe, S. Determination of absolute protein numbers in single synapses by a GFP-based calibration technique. Nature Meth. 2, 677-684 (2005). (Fluorescent beads that are calibrated against single GFP molecules are used for determining the number of endogenous protein molecules in a synapse).

Pei Yu Chiou, Aaron T. Ohta and Ming C. Wu. Massively parallel manipulation of single cells and microparticles using optical images. Nature 436, 370-372. (2005). ( By combining optical tweezers and dielectrophoresis (DEP), the team managed to manipulate thousands of cells and microparticles at once, using 100 000 times less optical intensity than optical tweezers).

Georg Hildenbrand , Alexander Rapp , Udo Spöri , Christian Wagner , Christoph Cremer and Michael Hausmann. Nano-Sizing of Specific Gene Domains in Intact Human Cell Nuclei by Spatially Modulated Illumination Light Microscopy. Biophys. J. 88, 4312-4318 (2005). See also an accompanying editiorial by K. Stanislav: Light Microscopy in Biological Research. Biophys. J. 88, 3741 (2005). (Describes a novel light microscopy technique called spatially modulated illumination microscopy and its application to the analysis of gene domain nano-architecture in cell nuclei).

Urano, Y. et al. Evolution of fluorescein as a platform for finely tunable fluorescence probes. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 127, 4888-4894 (2005). (Understanding the role of structure of fluorescein leads to development of TokyoGreens, new derivatives of fluorescein, and improved design of other new fluorescent probes).

Nicholas Fang, Hyesog Lee, Cheng Sun and Xiang Zhang. Sub-Diffraction-Limited Optical Imaging with a Silver Superlens. Science 308, 534-537 (2005). See also an accompanying editorial by D. R. Smith: How to Build a Superlens. Science 308, 502-503 (2005). ( Using silver as a natural optical superlens, sub-diffraction-limited imaging with 60-nanometer half-pitch resolution is demonstrated).

Hoffman et al. A FLAsH-based FRET approach to determine G protein-coupled receptor activation in living cells. Nat. Meth. 2, 171-176 (2005).

Ando, R. et al. Regulated fast nucleocytoplasmic shuttling observed by reversible protein highlighting. Science 306, 1370-1373 (2004).  (Describes Dronpa that can be photobleaced and reactivated rapidly and repeatedly).

Rizzo, M. and Piston, D. W. High-contrast imaging of fluorescent protein FRET by fluorescence polarization microscopy. Biophys. Journal (Biophys. Lett.), Feb. 2005, L14-L16. (How polarization of light can be used to verify FRET).

Chen, I. Howarth, M., Lin, W. and Ting, A. Y. Site-specific labeling of cell surface proteins with biophysical probes using biotin ligase.
Nat. Meth. 2,  99-104 (2005)

Kuerschner, L. et al. Polyene-lipids: a new tool to image lipids. Nat. Meth. 2, 39-45 (2005).

Burbulis, I. et al. Nat. Meth. 2, 31-37 (2005). (Use of local activation of a molecular fluorescent probe (LAMP) for imaging gap junctions).

- MIU 3rd microscopy workshop 17.-21.10.2005

Location for the lectures: Seminar room 3, P-floor

Location for the demonstrations: Microscopy room (B501b), MIU office (B505b), and Meta room

- Molecular Imaging Unit (MIU) is organizing the Second Meta Miniworkshop in May (17.-20.5).

The workshop is mainly intended for current Zeiss LSM510 Meta confocal microscope users but everybody is welcome to attend the lectures. There is no course fee.

Program: Second Meta Miniworkshop 17.-20.5:

Tu 17.5 Seminar room 8-9 (P-floor) 14.15-15.00 (Anne Vaahtokari):

• 1. Sample preparation - how to optimize your scans even before entering the Meta room
• 2. Meta detector - what it is and when to use it 15.15-16.00 (Jopi Penttilä):
1. 1. Deconvolution and widefield microscopy - an alternative for confocal
2. 2. Deconvolution and confocal microscopy - improving your images

We-Fr 18.-20.5 (Meta room) Meta demonstrations (Anne Vaahtokari):

• 1. We 18.5 (9.15-11.00)
• 2. Th 19.5 (9.15-11.00)
• 3. Fr 20.5 (9.15-11.00)

The Workshop is intended to cover practical aspects of confocal microscopy that are not part of the initial Meta training session. In the demonstrations, I'll go through the more advanced features of the Meta software.

The demonstrations are only for registered Meta users (max. 12 participants). Priority is given to those who did not participate in the First Meta Miniworkshop last fall. If you'd like to sign up, please send me an e-mail that also tells which date is your first, second, and third choice. Registration deadline: Fr 13.5 (but: registration is first-come, first-served).

Page updated 06.11.2006

Mail to Webmaster