The International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology has acquired Lightsheet Z.1, state-of-the-art fluorescence microscope. It works on the principle of single-plane illumination microscopy (SPIM). Lightsheet Z.1 has been bought from the funds provided by the FishMed project. It is the first such a microscope in Poland.
Lightsheet Z.1 is particularly well suited for long-term live imaging of medium sized objects, such as zebrafish larvae. It uses a novel principle of SPIM, where the illuminating planar sheet of light is perpendicular to the detection axis. This allows for much more efficient usage of illumination light, thereby reducing the unwanted effects of photobleaching and phototoxicity. The sample, typically embedded in agarose rods, can be moved in all directions as well as rotated 360° degrees during imaging. The main application of Lightsheet Z.1 will be imaging of zebrafish larvae, tissue sections and 3D cell cultures. Lightsheet Z.1 is manufactured by Zeiss.