Microscopy Center
The UL Lafayette Microscopy Center (MC) is an independent, shared instrument facility used for research and teaching. It is available to faculty and graduate students. Centrally located in Billeaud Hall, the multidisciplinary laboratory consists of a twelve-room suite containing a full complement of equipment for transmission (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), focused ion beam (FIB), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) microscope, atomic force microscope (AFM), and Leica SP5 confocal microscope. The full-time staff maintains and updates the instruments, provides training to users, and offers technical assistance to researchers. The MC houses Sorvall MT-5000, MT-6000, and MT-2B ultramicrotomes to prepare thin sections of biological material. Ancillary equipment includes glass knife makers and grid-staining units. Equipment necessary for the preparation of materials for SEM is available including a critical point dryer, sputter-coaters, rapid-freeze unit, and a vacuum evaporator with a freeze-drying module.
• Hitachi H7600 Transmission Electron Microscope, 120kV. This microscope has high resolution and can resolve objects as small as 6 angstroms at a magnification of 300,000X. It is used for the visualization of known and novel cell organelles and the associations between them. It has been used to study animal cells, plant cells, bacteria, parasites, and viruses.
• Thermo Scientific Scios 2 Dual Beam scanning electron microscope and focused ion beam with Thermo Scientific UltraDry Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (EDS) detector and Pathfinder software for elemental analysis. This instrument allows for the acquisition of electron images of almost any type of sample at extremely high magnifications. It can also mill into samples with a separate gallium ion beam so that sub-surface layers can be studied. Avizo and PerGeos 3D modeling software are available on-site.
• Hitachi S3000N Thermionic Scanning Electron Microscope is a variable pressure SEM capable of imaging specimens at high vacuum and in a variable pressure range from 1-270 Pa. This allows non-conducting specimens to be imaged without coating with a conductive film. The microscope has an IXRF EDS system for elemental analysis. The system is used for magnifications of 10000x or less.
• Leica SP5 Confocal Microscope with upright and inverted microscopes. Four lasers (UV, Argon, DPSS, and HeNe). It is typically used in biological sciences for fluorescence imaging 0-1000 microns beneath the specimen surface. Recent studies involved the investigation of cellular and molecular neuroscience and neurological diseases.
For more information about the Microscopy Center, visit our Webpage. https://microscope.louisiana.edu/