The microscopy facility at the Biology department is equipped with a confocal laser scanning microscope Zeiss Axioplan 2 LSM 510 META.
The microscope has two single-channel detectors and a polychromatic 32-channel detector (META) for fast acquisition of lambda stacks
(see below) and multiple adjustable pinholes for high-resolution multi-fluorescence imaging. The lasers include Ar
(458, 477, 488, 514 nm) 30 mW, He/Ne (543 nm) 1 mW, and He/Ne (633 nm) 5mW. Spectral separation is achieved by means of a unique
combination of spectral detection and analysis, performed by an emission fingerprinting device, the META detector, and Linear Unmixing
software with the capability to separate up to eight emission channels. For each XY focal plane, the LSM 510 Meta measures the
incremental emission every 10 nm and produces a stack of images, called lambda stack. Focusing through a specimen at desired increments
on the Z axis generates a Z-stack. An image stack with emission information in X, Y, and Z dimensions allows the determination of
spectral signatures at any location of a specimen, which can be used for the generation of 3D
reconstructions.