Service Fees and Training Opportunities
The Department of Pathobiology maintains this facility and oversees the fee structure for this service center.
Microscope: Leica Stellaris FALCON
Fee: $50/hour
Microscope: Leica SP8-MP upright
Fee: $50/hour
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: GE DeltaVision OMX
Fee: $30/hour (reduced to $15/hour for overnight live imaging)
Microscope: MDC ImageXpress
Fee: $25/hour (reduced to $10/hour off-peak rate from 8pm-8am and on weekends)
Microscope: Leica SP5-FLIM inverted (legacy confocal)
Fee: $35/hour
Microscope: Fura-2 ratiometric calcium imaging and TIRF*
Fee: $30/hour*
* The calcium imaging/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 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
Imaris
Free for users of PVIC microscopes
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 380 Hill Pavilion. The license includes the following modules: Imaris, ImarisMeasurementPro, ImarisTrack, ImarisColoc, ImarisVantage, ImarisCell, and ImarisXT. This is a visualization and analysis software for 3-dimensional and 4-dimensional datasets.
Huygens Deconvolution
Free for users of PVIC microscopes
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 Hill Pavilion room 380. 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 SP8, or SP5 confocal microscopes can be deconvolved to yield super-resolution images, provided image acquisition was optimized to make the most of the available optical resolution. The Leica Stellaris has it’s own Lightning deconvolution within the LAS X software associated with this microscope, but image stacks can be processed in Huygens as well.
MetaMorph
Free for users of PVIC microscopes
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 380 Hill Pavilion. Although there is substantial overlap in the features within these two copies, the version in 380 Hill contains some additional analysis features that are not present on the version used for acquisition on the Spinning Disk Confocal.
Volocity
Free
Volocity is particularly useful for visualization and analysis of 3-dimensional and 4-dimensional datasets. The software can be accessed on either of the two workstations in room 380 of the Hill Pavilion or can be downloaded onto your own computer and accessed using PVIC licenses for Volocity via our license server. To register to use our Volocity license server, please contact the core manager at goruthel@vet.upenn.edu.
Off-line Leica LAS X software
Free
The off-line version of the Leica LAS X software available on the workstation computer in Hill Pavilion room 380 for opening and viewing Leica LIF files. This version includes the Leica 3D rendering module for making 3D animations in addition to normal LAS X functions such as stitching tiled images, adding scalebars, and export images in TIFF format.