Cellular Imaging Facility

The 400-square foot Congressman Julian Dixon Cellular Imaging Facility ("Image Core") provides cutting-edge research in computerized image analysis and light microscopy.  Unlike traditional microscopy that views objects in only two dimensions, computerized video microscopy allows researchers to reconstruct three-dimensional images of live cells and make four-dimensional time-lapse recordings of moving cells.

Since its opening in March 2000, the Image Core has been cited in more than 35 peer-reviewed Childrens Hospital Los Angeles publications. The Image  Core has a:

• Leica SP1 confocal microscope with Argon ion (458/476/488/514 nm laser lines), DPSS (561 nm), and HeNe (633) lasers,
• 3 fluorescence/reflectance photomultiplier tubes (PMTs)
• 1 transmitted light PMT, high speed galvonometer Z-drive, Marzhauser XY motorized stage, and optional temperature controller for 35 mm imaging dishes. The confocal scanhead is mounted on a Leica DMIRBE inverted microscope with motorized focus drive and laser eye-safety interlocks.

Standard microscopes are:

• Leica DMRXA/RF-8 automated upright fluorescence microscope with SkyVision spectral imaging camera
• Zeiss Axioplan upright fluorescence microscope with color CCD camera
• Leica MZFLIII Z-motorized fluorescence microscope with Hamamatsu ORCA-ER scientific grade digital CCD camera.

The Pathscan Enabler/Polaroid SprintScan 4000+ microscope slide and 35 mm slide scanner were featured in a 2003 whole tissue section microvessel quantitatin publication. The Image Core has several image analysis packages, with most users doing analysis with any of the three licenses of MetaMorph 6.26.