Leica Multimodal Imaging Platform installed in Research Hub 2
Science Foundation Ireland Research Infrastructures Awarded to TU Dublin
(Total Cost €2,073,808)
Leica Multimodal Imaging Platform installed in FOCAS/Research Hub 2
The Leica Stellaris SP8 CARS/SRS system uniquely combines state-of-the-art confocal optical microscopy with imaging based on fluorescence lifetime, second harmonic generation, two photon fluorescence, and the chemically specific spectroscopic techniques, coherent anti-Stokes, and stimulated Raman scattering. The award, (PI Prof. Hugh J. Byrne) under the 2021 SFI Research Infrastructures scheme, was supported by a 10% institutional financial contribution, and is based on the longstanding expertise of TU Dublin research teams in microspectroscopic analysis of materials and physical, chemical and biological processes. The first of its kind in Ireland, the platform enables confocal laser scanning microscopy with tunable excitation across the range of 440 nm -790nm and the simultaneous screening of 8 different spectral channels, while the pulsed source enables imaging based on fluorescence lifetime.
The addition of the picosecond laser source to the platform opens up the possibilities for nonlinear optical based microscopic imaging techniques, including two photon fluorescence excitation (TPE), second harmonic generation (SHG), and Coherent Raman Scattering (CRS) microscopy, including coherent anti-Stokes (CARS), and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS). TPE microscopy, typically performed in the near IR, provides increased penetration depth, particularly for tissue measurements. SHG imaging is sensitive to non centrosymmetric structures at a molecular or morphological level, and in biological systems is commonly employed to probe structures of collagen, microtubules, and muscle myosin. The techniques of CARS and SRS are based on Raman scattering, which probes the characteristic quantised molecular vibrations within a specimen at visible or near IR wavelengths, often in a confocal microscopic configuration, allowing lateral and/or depth profiling with submicron resolution. The spectrum of vibrations is a fingerprint of the molecule, specimen or changes to the specimen.
As a real time analysis platform, the applications of the Leica Multimodal Imaging Platform span the scope of physical, chemical, biological, food science, materials science and engineering materials and processes. The platform has specific advantages for the study of biological systems, and the development of in-vitro cellular screening of, e.g., disease biomarkers, the mode-of-action of toxicants and pharmaceuticals, nutraceutical or therapeutic agents (including nanoformulations), and a range of other biological processes.