Advanced Imaging Facility

The advanced Imaging Facility is the light microscopy facility within the University of Leicester’s College of Life Sciences and offers access to a wide range of light microscopes (widefield, confocals, Quantitative Phase Imaging, super-resolution, TIRF, slide scanning) as well as support for image analysis (including Imaris, Huygens, Fiji). The facility is available to staff, students, external researchers and Industry.



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Expertise 

Imaging Platform 

Keyword - Light Microscopy; Superresolution microscopy | Live cell imaging | Confocal microscopy | Widefield microscopy | TIRF | STORM | Structured Illumination Microscopy
Other: Slide scanning, Quantitative phase imaging, High content screening

Imaging Platform overview: 

Confocal microscopy:
- Zeiss LSM 980 Airyscan 2 with environmental chamber
- Olympus FV1000 CLSM with environmental chamber
- Nikon C1Si CLSM
- VisiTech Infinity 3 HAWK 2D array scanner with environmental chamber

Wide field system:
- Zeiss Elyra 7 Lattice SIM2 with TIRF, SMLM, environmental chamber
- 2 Nikon Ti-E wide field systems with environmental chamber
- Olympus IX81 - Inscoper with environmental chamber
- Upright Olympus BX61

Slide scanners:
- Akoya PhenoImager (Vectra Polaris)
- Akoya Phenocycler-Fusion

Quantitative Phase Imaging (label free imaging):
- Phasefocus LiveCyte 2

 

Applications 

Keywords - Biological: Cell Biology | Developmental Biology | Plant Biology | C.elegans | Microbiology | Histology/Pathology | Neurobiology | Immunobiology | Zebrafish | Drosophila | Bio-materials

 

Data Analysis

Keywords - Software: ImageJ | Imaris | Huygens | Fiji
Other: InForm | VisioPharm | Arivis | NIS-Elements | ScanR-Analysis | ZEN-Blue | LiveCyte analysis

 

Shared Access 

The AIF is an open access facility within the University of Leicester Core Biotechnology Services. We welcome academic and commercial projects from outside the University. Please contact me for further details and access charges.

 

Funding Overview

The first microscopes were funded in 2001 by grants from the BBSRC and Wellcome Trust. In 2006 the AIF was established and funding for additional microscope systems obtained from the Wolfson Foundation. Several additional systems and upgrades were purchased via CIF funding (2009) and funding from the University Research Equipment and Infrastructure Fund (2012, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2019). The Zeiss LSM980 Airyscan2 was funded via BBSRC ALERT2018, the Akoya PhenoCycler Fusion via MRC mid-range equipment call 2023 and the Zeiss Elyra 7 Lattice SIM2 was funded through BBSRC ALERT22 and installed end 2023.

The maintenance of the facility is partly funded by usage charges.

 



Point of Contact

Advanced Imaging Facility
Core Biotechnology Services
Maurice Shock Building
University of Leicester, University Road
Leicester , LE1 7RH, UK


Kees Straatman 

Tel: 01162 297085
Email: krs5@leicester.ac.uk

 

Visit the Advanced Imaging Facility website