Facility Details

The Center for Advanced Microscopy (CAM) at Northwestern offers state-of-the art instrumentation and services for the study of biological processes at the whole animal, tissue, cellular and subcellular levels. The facility's basic services include electron microscopy, super resolution microscopy (SIM & STORM), fluorescent laser scanning and spinning disk microscopy, fluorescent lifetime imaging, automated high throughput tissue cytometry, atomic force microscopy, laser capture microdissection, mutliphoton imaging, and whole animal bioluminescent and fluorescent imaging. Additionally we provide microinjection equipment, chambers for stable live cell observation, and anesthesia equipment. CAM staff members provide training on numerous different instrument platforms, consultation on experiment design, as well as digital image processing and image analysis. We are a reference site for several companies including TissueGnostics. CAM is one of three Nikon Imaging Centers in the US, allowing us access and excellent support from Nikon to develop innovative solutions for the cutting edge imaging needs of users. This relationship has allowed our users to push super-resolution technologies to permit multi-color, 3D and live-cell applications. Additionally, we have been working together with Nikon to add confocal laser scanning to a low magnification upright dissection microscope, which is particularly useful to researchers interested in visualizing thick samples (such as epidermal raft cultures) at increased cellular resolution. We are also currently expanding our full service electron microscopy offerings. We currently support TEM and SEM sample preparation, immunogold labeling, platinum replicas, and CLEM.