The facility currently houses 6 major microscopy work stations: two Zeiss Axioskop 2+ upright compound microscopes, three Zeiss Axiovert 200 inverted compound microscopes, and one Olympus BX51WI upright compound microscope. The Olympus microscope is dedicated to an electrophysiology rig consisting of an EPC-10 HEKA patch clamp amplifier and integrated analog-to-digital converter. All of the Zeiss microscopes are set up for fluorescent microscopy and connected to dedicated Dell computers (GX520) with Zeiss image analysis software (AxioVision ver. 4.9.1) via digital cameras (Axiocam MRm or MRc). All of the Zeiss workstations were originally purchased in 2001 using funds from an NSF CCLI grant (DUE 0088412), and components have been upgraded or added over the years. All the computers are in the process of being replaced by Zeiss Compact Core 15 computers with new image analysis software (Zen 2 pro) purchased with internal funding. All of the microscopes are on airtables. There are also two Olympus dissecting microscopes located in the facility for sample preparation.
