Nikon Ni-E research microscope
The Nikon Ni-E is a fully motorized high-end upright (i.e. the objectives are facing downwards) research microscope mainly meant to image fixed samples that are either fluorescently labelled, histologically stained or untreated.
Fluorescent samples can be imaged in superior quality with a low noise, high sensitive Nikon DS-Qi2 black and white camera. Five filter cubes in the excitation/emission range of DAPI, FITC, TRITC, Texas Red and Cy5 are available. Histological sections may be imaged with a Nikon DS-Ri2 color camera that offers resolutions of up to 4908 x 3264 pixels. Untreated samples, even thin unlabelled cells, can be visualized by using Differential Interference Contrast (DIC). The Ni-E has a motorized stage that allows for automatic stitching: Areas on a slide larger than the field that a given objective can image, can be automatically captured as a series of frames, which are then seamlessly stitched together by the NIS-Elements acquisition software. So large images consisting of hundreds of single frames can be created. The system is very efficient: it is for instance able to skip sample free regions on a slide.
Objectives
All objectives are optimized for coverslips of the type #1.5 (meaning that they have a thickness of 0.17mm). The usage of thicker (type #2) or thinner (type #1) coverslips may lead to suboptimal images. The 40x objective may be adjusted for coverslip thicknesses from 0.11 to 0.23mm by a correction collar.
- Nikon Plan Apo λ 2x NA 0.1 (working distance 8.5mm)
- Nikon Plan Apo λ 10x NA 0.45 (working distance 4mm)
- Nikon Plan Apo λ 20x NA 0.75 (working distance 1mm)
- Nikon Plan Apo λ 40x NA 0.95 (working distance 0.25 - 0.17mm)
- Nikon Plan Apo λ 60x NA 1.40 Oil (working distance 0.13mm)
Filter Cubes
The Ni-E is equipped with the following filter cubes:
- "DAPI": EX 390/18 DM 416 EM 460/60
- "EGFP": EX 472/39 DM 495 EM 520/35
- "TRITC": EX 543/22 DM 562 EM 593/40
- "TexasRed": EX 562/40 DM 593 EM 624/40
- "Cy5": EX 632/22 DM 660 EM 692/40
Cameras
Mainly for epifluorescence imaging the Nikon DS-Qi2 black and white camera is the camera of choice. It uses a very sensitive, low-noise 24 x 36mm CMOS chip based on the Nikon Professional Digital Single Lens Reflex Cameras but without Bayer filter. Two resolutions are possible: 536 x 536 pixel or 1608 x 1608 pixel.
Histological stainings will usually be imaged with the Nikon DS-Ri2 color camera. It uses the same 24 x 36mm CMOS chip as the DS-Qi2 but with Bayer filter. Two resolution settings are possible: 1636 x 1088 pixel or 4908 x 3264 pixel.
