Optical Microscopy Equipment

Confocal fluorescence microscope, Zeiss LSM 880 Airyscan and MaiTai DeepSee.
The microscope is equipped with three Ar laser excitation sources (458, 488 and 514 nm), DPSS (561 and 590 nm) and HeNe (633 nm). It is coupled to a MaiTai DeepSee multiphoton laser, with variable excitation range (690 to 1040 nm). It has two PMT photomultiplier type detectors, one standard and one with high sensitivity in the infrared range, as well as a GaAsP detector for detection in the visible spectrum. All three spectral detectors can be used simultaneously in confocal image acquisition. The Airyscan module is an array of detectors that allows measurements with high lateral resolution of 150 nm and axial of 400 nm, on the 488 channels. It also has a BIG-2 detector module, composed of two GaAsP detectors for high sensitivity multiphoton measurements. Allows for fluorescence correlation and cross-correlation spectroscopy measurements.

Epifluorescence microscope, Zeiss Axio Cell Observer. It has a lighting system consisting of four Colibri LEDs (365, 470, 530 and 590 nm) and a Xe lamp. It is equipped with two AxioCam cameras: MRm3 and 305color. The microscope is equipped with an incubation cabinet for experiments with temperature, CO2 and humidity control, which allows long-term in vitro experiments. The system is controlled with the software Zen Blue.

Raman confocal microscope, Renishaw inVia Reflex. Allows the analysis of solids or substrates immersed in water, as well as liquid or suspended samples. The Leica microscope integrated in the system is equipped with lenses of different magnifications and a water immersion lens, a motorized scanning sampler platform and a video camera. It is equipped with three laser excitation sources at 532, 633 and 785 nm (power35, 17 and 180 mW). The spectrometer features two CCD cameras with diffraction grids with 1800 and 1200 lines/mm that provide high spectral resolution (1 cm-1) and another diffraction grid with 600 lines/mm optimized to measure at 532 and 633 nm with lower spectral resolution. In addition, it has polarization filters, Stream Line filters, sample accessory for macroscopic liquids. The system is controlled with the software Wire 4.4.

Raman confocal microscope, WITec alpha300 R. Allows the analysis of solids or substrates immersed in water. The integrated Zeiss microscope is equipped with lenses of different magnifications, a dark field lens and two water immersion lenses; a CMOS video camera and a topographic surface sensor that allows measuring on rough substrates while maintaining focus. It has four laser excitation sources coupled to 488, 532,633 and 785 nm (power 55, 50, 30 and 75 mW), all of them equipped with TruePower, as well as two high efficiency spectrometers. The visible range spectrometer is equipped with 2 diffraction grids for high and low spectral resolution (1800 and 300 lines/mm) and a CCD(EM) camera. The NIR spectrometer also has 2 diffraction grids with 1200 and 300 lines/mm and a CCD NIR (BI) camera. The motorized scanning platform allows movement over an area of 50 x 50 mm2 and is coupled to a piezoelectric scanner (100 x 100 x 20 µm) that allows to obtain confocal images with a resolution close to the diffraction limit. The system is controlled with the Control FIVE and Project FIVE software.

Flow Cytometry Equipment

Flow Cytometer, BD FACS Song II. It is equipped with three excitation lasers: blue, red and violet (488, 633 and 405 nm), as well as with a carousel to measure up to 40 samples automatically. The FACSDIVA software controls sample acquisition and enables data analysis.

Optical Spectroscopy Equipment

Spectrofluorometer, Horiba Fluorolog III. It is equipped with a lamp with excitation capacity at wavelengths between 200 and 800 nm. The resolution of the emission spectrum is 0,2 nm with a scanning speed of 150 nm/s. It has a sample holder for solids with a variable angle and a sample holder coupled to a thermo-adjustable bath for samples in solution or in suspension, which allows the acquisition of spectra at different temperatures. FluorEsscence software controls the acquisition of excitation, emission, and synchronous spectra, as well as the realization of kinetic processes.

Spectrofluorometer, Edinburgh FS5. It allows to acquire emission, excitation and synchronous spectra from ultraviolet to near-infrared UV-NIR between 200 and 1650 nm. It also allows to record the kinetic profile at multiple wavelengths, perform polarization and fluorescence anisotropy measurements in liquid samples, thin films and solids. It has an integrating sphere that allows measurements to be made to determine the fluorescence quantum yield and acquire diffuse reflectance spectra. The system allows the characterization of fluorescence and phosphorescence lifetimes, for this purpose it uses high intensity pulsed LEDs (340 and 405nm) and pulsed xenon lamps respectively. The system is controlled by the Fluoracle software.

Circular dichroism spectropolarimeter, CD – Jasco J-1500.
Allows measurements of absorbance, circular and linear dichroism from ultraviolet to near-infrared UV-NIR (180 and 1600 nm); It also allows to measure the fluorescence and rotational scattering fluorescence. It I equipped with a Xe light source (power 150 W), Peltier temperature control and an integrating sphere for measurements of samples with high light scattering from solids, either by reflection or by diffuse reflectance. The system is coupled to an ATS-429L automated titration system. The system is controlled with Spectra Manager II software.

Fourier Transform infrared spectrophotometer, FT-IR – Bruker Invenio-X. Allows light absorption analysis of solid, liquid or gel samples, in the transmission range between 30 and 15.500 cm-1 and an accessory to measure in attenuated total reflectance (ATR) mode. The equipment has a software selection system for the three detectors: InGaAs, DLaTGS and DLaTGS. The system is controlled by the OPUS 9 software. A hydraulic press is available for the compression preparation of tablets.

Absorbance spectrophotometer, UV-Vis-NIR – Varian Cary 5000. Allows to conduct absorption/extinction analysis of light in solid, liquid, suspended or thin films samples, in the range between 175 and 3300 nm. The measurement system is double-beam and has a high spectral resolution (up to 0.01 nm in UV-Vis and 0.04 nm in NIR) thanks to its PMT (UV-Vis) and PbS (NIR) detectors. Spectral parameters can be adjusted individually for both ranges. It is equipped with a multi-cell support that allows temperature-controlled measurements within the range between 0 and 90oC, through the CaryWinUV software.

Raman Spectrometer, B&W Tek i-Raman 785. Allows the analysis of macroscopic samples and materials in the form of liquids, gels, powders and solids. The spectrometer has a laser at 785 nm (power 250 mW) as excitation source and operates in the spectral range from 175 to 3200 cm-1 with spectral resolution of 3,5 cm-1. The emitted light and the reception of the signal are obtained through an optical fiber connected to the equipment, which has a CCD detector. Signal acquisition is controlled by the BWSpec4 software.

Calorimetry Equipment

Differential scanning calorimeter, DSC – TA Nano III 6300. Allows to measure the heat capacities of macromolecules in aqueous solution. The scanning speed is 0.001 to 2ºC/min working in a temperature range between -10 and 130ºC.

Isothermal titration calorimeter, ITC – Microcal VP-ITC. Measures the heat released or absorbed in liquid samples during a binding event as a result of the addition of precise amounts of reagents. Structural or kinetic information can be obtained evaluate the binding affinity constant. The working temperature range is between 2 and 80oC and it is possible to work in a stirring regime between 0 and 1000 rpm, with the volume of the measurement and reference cells being 1,4 mL. The equipment is controlled with VP Viewer 2000-ITC software.