Confocal.nl launched their new product: the RCM-NIR. The RCM-NIR (Near-InfraRed) is tuned to imaging fluorescent molecules with excitation at 785nm (such as IR800CW and Indocyanine Green, which is FDA approved).
The main benefits of the near-infrared imaging are:
- Capacity to observe thick samples, due to less scattering of NIR photons by tissue
- Less phototoxic to living animals
Benefits of using RCM for NIR-imaging:
- 1-Photon excitation, therefore cost-effective
- Improved lateral resolution by 40% compared to conventional confocal, which means 240nm resolution @785nm excitation.
Because of the unique camera-based architecture of the RCM imaging in the NIR is possible. Traditional PMT-based confocal microscopes are not sensitive in the NIR at all.
The RCM-NIR is developed in an Horizon2020 Eurostars project “DEep TissuE re-scanning confocal microscopy” (DETECtOR) in collaboration with prof. dr. Fred Wouters, dr. Gertrude Bunt and dr. Stefan Hock (University Medical Center Göttingen, UMCG), dr Venkat Krishnawasami and Ronald Breedijk (University of Amsterdam) and (Annabel Schwarz and Sonke Baumann (Omicron Laserage GmbH). Confocal.nl is represented by dr Erik Manders and dr Desiree Salas.
In the last week of October all partners participated in a bootcamp to test the RCM-NIR. We want to thank Olympus and CoolLED for providing the additional necessary equipment to perform the experiments.
We used the new Olympus X-Line objectives because of the superior flatness and transmittance in the infrared.
CoolLED provided us the Pe-4000 LED illuminator, which is very useful to find (the for the eye invisible) NIR fluorescence.
