Light Microscopy Facility

The Light Microscopy Facility was established in 2007 to support Life Science Research at the University of Luxembourg. Its open access to University members as well as to external users from academia and industry is promoting interactions across a wide range of projects and disciplines and is adding in return to its expertise. The vision of this facility is not only focused on the provision of equipment, but also on the introduction of users, interested scientists and students into the fundamental principles and advanced applications of light microscopy. This is an indispensable prerequisite for the understanding of this technology and for the recognition of its potential impact on individual research projects.

Services provided

Provision of equipment
Hands-on training for microscopy & microinjection
Hands-on workshops
Lectures / seminars
Image processing support
Project / experiment planning support
Relevant technical support for the preparation grant applications
Sample preparation support
3D printing

Collaboration partners

Andor Technology, Belfast, Ireland
Eppendorf AG, Hamburg, Germany
Evrogen, Moskow, Russia
Nikon BELUX, Brussels, Belgium
ZEISS Microscopy Labs, Munich, Germany

Contact

Dr. Andreas Girod

Coordinator Light Microscopy Facility
Principal investigator
Department of Life Sciences and Medicine-FSTM
Office: E1-104B
Microscope room: E3-305A
Campus Belval, House of Biomedicine / Biotech I (BT1)
7, avenue des Hauts-Fourneaux
L-4362 Esch-sur-Alzette
Phone office: +352 46 66 44 6863
E-mail: andreas.girod@uni.lu

Equipment

Andor Revolution Spinning Disk Confocal Microscope (this equipment was funded by the Fondation Cancer)

Main Specifications:-Nikon Ti Microscope-Lumencor SPECTRA X Light Engine (high performance LED light source for fast, multi-colour wide-field imaging) -Yokogawa W1 Scan Head (spinning disk confocal scanner)-Andor Laser Combiner (405nm, 488nm, 561nm, 640nm & 660nm Laser)-Nikon TIRF-M Module (Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy)-Till Photonics FRAP-PA Module (Point Scanner for photo-manipulation like bleaching, photo-activation)-Andor iXon 888 EM-CCD camera (1024x1024 pixel )-Andor Zyla scmos camera

Zeiss LSM510 Meta Confocal Microscope

Along the standard configuration, the system will (soon) be equipped with

a high performance LED light source for fast, multi-colour wide-field imaging
a Yokogawa CSU10 confocal scan head ( spinning disk confocal scanner)
a PCO FLIM camera (Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy)
4 color laser combiner for CSU10 and the FLIM camera

The additional modules will be controlled via Andor iQ3 software

Eppendorf Semi-Automatic Microinjection System

Leica Micro-dissection System

Workstation for image processing

Deconvolution - Visualization - Analysis

https://svi.nl

OpenSPIM system (in collaboration with LCSB)

(SPIM: Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy, Light Sheet Microscopy) 405nm, 488nm, 561nm & 640nm laser combiner

LabView based software

3D Printer Ultimaker S5

Ultimaker Cura software

Rhinoceros 3D modeling software

Workshops & Conferences

06.2012: Workshop on microinjection
05.11.2012: Introduction into confocal microscopy. Invited speaker: Dr. Sven Terclavers, Carl Zeiss nv-sa, Belgium
14-18.01.2013: International Hands-On Light Microscopy Workshop – Basic & Advanced Techniques (FNR RESCOM funded; about 40 participants)
20-24.02.2017: The 2nd edition of the international Hands-on Light Microscopy Workshop (about 70 participants). https://holm2017.uni.lu
29.09.2017: Huygens Workshop on Deconvolution - Visualization - Analysis of image data
02-05.02.2019: Neubias Training School for Bioimage Analysis (EU COST Action, about 100 participants)
05-08.02.2019: Neubias Bioimage Analysis Symposium (EU COST Action, FNR RESCOM funded; almost 300 participants)

Other Activities:

National representative for the Neubias COST Action
Member of the European Light Microscopy Initiative
Stakeholder of Euro-Bioimaging
Lectures in master courses (Luxembourg & Greece)

Rules & regulations

Booking: https://lims.uni.lu/LSRU/extra_modules/scheduling/index.php?action=dayview&date=&o=1

Relevant Links

ELMI (European Light Microscopy Initiative) http://www.embl.org/elmi/index.html
Euro-Bioimaging infrastructure project http://www.eurobioimaging.eu/
http://eubias.org/NEUBIAS/
https://openspim.org/Welcome_to_the_OpenSPIM_Wiki

Past and current Grants & Projects

01.2013 - 12.2014

Fondation Cancer
Project title: 'Implémentation d’une plate de microscopie en temps réel pour l’étude des mécanismes moléculaires associés aux cancers dans le contexte de la cellule vivante.'
Budget: 410,205€

01.2013

FNR RESCOM Exploratory Workshops
Title: Hands-on light microscopy workshop- basic and advanced techniques
Funding: 9.132€

07.2014 - 09.2017

FNR CORE Project
Title: Investigation of the regulatory pathways that govern fidelity of cell division tumorigenesis aneuploidy
Budget: 597.000

01.2015 - 06.2017

University internal research project
Title: A journey of chromatin remodeling factors from chromatin to spindle and back regulation function
Budget: 218.000€

01.2018 - 06.2021

Fondation Cancer Project
Mapping the interaction profile of microtubule associated proteins (MAPs) in time and space, during out of control cell division in cancer –“2MAP cancer”
Budget: 533.868€

02.2019