The Pieter Huveneers Molecular Imaging Unit was established in December 2003 with the generous assistance of many individuals and corporations, in particular Pieter Huveneers and Lady Mary Fairfax.

It contains some of the finest microscope equipment available. Recently, through a significant individual donation, the facility has been able to acquire a further microscope system. This equipment, designed in collaboration with Carl Zeiss, is the first of its kind and will allow scientists to image multiple intermolecular events at the surface of individual living cells at a resolution and speed previously not possible.

Equipment

The facility equipment currently consists of 5 principal microscopes, including a Leica DM IRE2 TCS2 AOBS and an inverted filter free laser scanning confocal microscopes, and the Zeiss Axiovert 200M inverted fluorescence microscope. These instruments are capable of imaging tissue, cells or intracellular organelles and molecules using a variety of transmitted light (brightfield, phase contrast, interference contrast) and fluorescence-based techniques; such as laser scanning confocal and laser total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRF-M, ‘evanescent wave microscopy’). The microscopes can be set up with incubation equipment to allow live cell time-lapse microscopy for short (hours) or long (days) term experiments using any of our available imaging techniques at speeds from ~20 frames/second upwards.

In addition, we have the expertise and equipment to perform and analyse experiments using techniques such as Förster Resonant Energy Transfer (FRET), fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP), colocalization analysis by either confocal, fluorescence or TIRF microscopy.

Usage

Outside of Garvan, the unit is used by scientists at The Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute; St. Vincent’s Hospital; The Centre for Immunology; The Kolling Institute of Medical Research; and the Centre for Vascular Research at UNSW.

If you would like to use the facility, or require further information, please contact:

Dr Will Hughes
e: w.hughes'at'garvan.org.au
p: (02) 9295 8402