Service Fees and Training Opportunities
The Department of Pathobiology maintains this facility and oversees the fee structure for this service center.
Microscope: Leica SP5-FLIM inverted
Fee: $40/hour (+ $10/hour if using the pulse lasers)
Microscope: Leica SP8-MP upright
Fee: $40/hour (+ $15/hour if using the 2-photon laser)
Microscope: GE DeltaVision OMX
Fee: $30/hour (reduced to $15/hour for overnight live imaging)
Microscope: Leica DM6000 widefield
Fee: $10/hour
Microscope: Yokagawa spinning disk
Fee: $25/hour (reduced to $15/hour off-peak rate from 8pm-8am and on weekends)
Microscope: MDC ImageXpress
Fee:$25/hour (reduced to $10/hour off-peak rate from 8pm-8am and on weekends)
Microscope: TIRF*
Fee: $30/hour*
* The TIRF microscope is not a core microscope but is available to core users by special arrangement with Dr. Bruce Freedman. Please contact the core manager at goruthel@vet.upenn.edu to schedule time on the TIRF microscope.
Scheduling Core Instruments
Registered users can access the PVIC online scheduler to reserve and use the Penn Vet Imaging Core instruments.
If you are not already registered, please email the core manager.
Training & Assistance
Training and Assistance
Training and assistance on the microscopes are provided at no additional charge above the normal cost of microscope use. Additional training, assistance (within reason), and advice on sample preparation and image analysis are likewise provided free of charge.
Software Information
MetaMorph
Free
The core has two copies of MetaMorph: one on the computer associated with the Yokagawa Spinning Disk Confocal and one in the core manager’s office room 313 Hill Pavilion. Although there is substantial overlap in the features within these two copies, the version in 313 Hill contains some additional analysis features not present on the version used for acquisition on the Spinning Disk Confocal.
Volocity
$1/hour
Volocity is particularly useful for visualization and analysis of 3-dimensional and 4-dimensional datasets. The software can be downloaded onto your own computer and accessed using PVIC licenses for Volocity via our license server. The $1/hour charge for license use helps to partially offset the annual cost of the software maintenance agreement, which provides you with unlimited help over the telephone from the expert Volocity support team at 1-866-310-0932. To register to use our Volocity license server, please contact the core manager at goruthel@vet.upenn.edu.
Imaris
Free
The core has a single license for Bitplane’s Imaris image analysis software, which is available on the workstation computer in the core manager’s office room 313 Hill Pavilion. The license includes the following modules: Imaris, ImarisMeasurementPro, ImarisTrack, ImarisColoc, ImarisVantage, ImarisCell, and ImarisXT. An alternative to Volocity, this is a visualization and analysis software for 3-dimensional and 4-dimensional datasets that provides an interface with MatLab via the ImarisXT module.
Huygens Deconvolution
Free
A single copy of Huygens Essential deconvolution/image restoration software by Scientific Volume Imaging is available for use with Leica LIF files on the workstation computer in the core manager’s office. This software can be used on image stacks taken on the core’s Leica DM6000B widefield epifluorescence microscope to remove out-of-focus haze from the images to yield almost confocal quality images. Image stacks taken with the core’s Leica SP5 or SP8 confocal microscopes can be deconvolved to yield super-resolution images, provided image acquisition was optimized to make the most of the available optical resolution.
SimFCS (Globals for Images)
Free
SimFCS is software developed by Enrico Gratton of the Laboratory for Fluorescence Dynamics (LFD) and can be used to produce Phasor plots of FLIM data and analyze FRET interactions, analyze Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS) data, and for single particle tracking. SimFCS is available on the computer associated with the FLIM microscope and in the core manager’s office (Hill 313). Tutorials on SimFCS are available on the LFD website: http://www.lfd.uci.edu/globals/tutorials/.