Morphology and Imaging Core

Director: Peter Hitchcock, PhD
Staffed by: Brad Nelson, Manager/Technician
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 734-615-7991
Fax: 734-936-3815

Submit a work order to the Morphology and Imaging Core

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The Morphology and Imaging Core is a service and resource for processing ocular and brain tissues for light microscopy, immunocytochemistry and in situ hybridization. Specimens can also be fixed for Electron Microscopy to be performed at other facilities. Training in tissue processing, microtomy, staining, and immunohistological techniques are also provided. The secondary function of the Core is to aid imaging of research results for analysis, presentation, and/or publication. Two computers are dedicated to producing publication-quality images and text from data produced by the Core. Computer training in image production is also provided.

Instrumentation

Some pieces of equipment must be reserved for use. Reserve Equipment here.

Morphology

  • Cryostar  NX50 Cryostat
  • Leica CM3050 Cryostat
  • Lecia CM3050S disposable blade cryostat
  • Reichert steel knife sharpener 
  • Leitz rotary microtome for plastic sectioning
  • Tissue-Tek Paraffin processing and embedding station
  • Access to Shandon AS 325 paraffin microtome
  • Shandon Tissue Processor Embedding Station
  • Standard light level biological stains and staining setup available

Imaging

Morphology and Imaging module image
  • Two research-quality Leica DM 6000 microscopes with 2X-100X objectives, differential interference contrast optics (DIC), and transmitted and epi-fluorescence light sources. The microscope is fitted with duel digital cameras (greyscale for fluorescence, color for high resolution color stain) and interfaced with an HP computer with Leica’s LAS-X for image capture and analysis.
  • Epson Expression 1680 Flatbed scanner with dedicated G5 iMac running Adobe Creative suite (Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, In-Design with PageMaker plug-in, Acrobat and Go-Live). Also Microsoft Office X, and OCR software
  • Nikon Super Coolscan 5000ED slide scanner, also associated with a G5 iMac
  • Access to the UM Microscopy and Image Analysis Laboratory (MIAL) in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology for use of a BioRad or Zeiss laser scanning confocal microscope and a Philips transmission electron microscope
  • Olympus EX51 Microscope
  • Leica 205FA Fluorecence Stereo Microscope
  • Leica MetaMorph & LAS-AF Offline Imaging Workstation
  • Leica SP5 Confocal Microscope
  • Leica SPX5 2-Photon Laser-Scanning Confocal Microscope 
  • LMD7000 Laser Micro dissection Microscope

Antibody Inventory