Visual Imaging Center

The Visual Imaging Center provides faculty and students the opportunity image live, fixed, unlabeled or fluorescently labeled samples using one of several available microscopes.

• Our Zeiss LSM 510 Confocal Microscope system is capable of detecting many standard fluorophores, including CFP, fluorescein, GFP, rhodamine, Texas Red, RFP, CY5 and several of the AlexaFluor dyes. Suitable applications include colocalization studies, immunofluorescence, FRAP and time courses. A separate workstation with a copy of the Zeiss LSM software is available for image analysis and processing.



• The DeltaVision Deconvolution microscope is designed to acquire and deconvolve images of fluorescently labeled specimens. The excitation source is a mercury lamp and fluorescent filter pairs include DAPI, fluorescein and rhodamine.



• Additional available microscopes include a Zeiss AxioPhot fluorescence microscope equipped with a CoolSNAP EZ CCD camera and Nikon's Elements software, an Olympus fluorescence microscope with standard rhodamine and fluorescein filters and a Leica dissecting microscope.

Rate Schedules for All Microscopes

The following rate schedule applies to all trained, eligible users and is current for the 2006/2007 Academic Year. Rates are adjusted each year depending on usage. Fees are used to help cover the cost of the service contract on the microscope, which is partially subsidized by the department, and help pay for materials such as lens paper, lens cleaning solution and mercury bulbs.

• LSM 510 Confocal
• Users within the College of Life Sciences: $10.00/hour
• On-campus users whose grants are not handled by the College of Life Sciences: $15.00/hour
• Users not affiliated with the campus: $30.00/hour

• DeltaVision Deconvolution
• Users within the College of Life Sciences: $7.50/hour
• On-campus users whose grants are not handled by the College of Life Sciences: $10.00/hour
• Users not affiliated with the campus: $20.00/hour

• Zeiss AxioPhot and Olympus Fluorescence Microscopes
• All Users: $2.00/hour

• Leica Dissecting Microscope
• All Users: No Charge

Contact Information:

Amy Beaven
Manager
Core Laboratory Facility
0107 Microbiology Building
University of Maryland
abeaven@umd.edu
301-405-7238