Courtney Amy, Alvey Luke M, Merces George O T, Burke Niamh, Pickering Mark
School of Medicine, University College Dublin, Ireland.
UCD Centre for Biomedical Engineering, University College Dublin, Ireland.
R Soc Open Sci. 2020 Mar 4;7(3):191949. doi: 10.1098/rsos.191949. eCollection 2020 Mar.
With technologies rapidly evolving, many research institutions are now opting to invest in costly, high-quality, specialized microscopes which are shared by many researchers. As a consequence, the user may not have the ability to adapt a microscope to their specific needs and limitations in experimental design are introduced. A flexible work-horse microscopy system is a valuable tool in any laboratory to meet the diverse needs of a research team and promote innovation in experimental design. We have developed the Flexiscope; a multi-functional, adaptable, efficient and high-performance microscopy/electrophysiology system for everyday applications in a neurobiology laboratory. The core optical components are relatively constant in the three configurations described here: an upright configuration, an inverted configuration and an upright/electrophysiology configuration. We have provided a comprehensive description of the Flexiscope. We show that this method is capable of oblique infrared illumination imaging, multi-channel fluorescent imaging and automated three-dimensional scanning of larger specimens. Image quality is conserved across the three configurations of the microscope, and conversion between configurations is possible quickly and easily, while the motion control system can be repurposed to allow sub-micrometre computer-controlled micromanipulation. The Flexiscope provides similar performance and usability to commercially available systems. However, as it can be easily reconfigured for multiple roles, it can remove the need to purchase multiple microscopes, giving significant cost savings. The modular reconfigurable nature allows the user to customize the system to their specific needs and adapt/upgrade the system as challenges arise, without requiring specialized technical skills.
随着技术的迅速发展，许多研究机构现在选择投资购买昂贵的、高质量的、专门的显微镜，供许多研究人员共享。因此，用户可能无法根据自己的特定需求对显微镜进行调整，从而在实验设计中引入了局限性。灵活通用的显微镜系统是任何实验室中满足研究团队多样化需求并促进实验设计创新的宝贵工具。我们开发了Flexiscope；一种多功能、可适应、高效且高性能的显微镜/电生理系统，用于神经生物学实验室的日常应用。在此描述的三种配置中，核心光学组件相对恒定：正立配置、倒置配置和正立/电生理配置。我们对Flexiscope进行了全面描述。我们表明，该方法能够进行斜向红外照明成像、多通道荧光成像以及对较大标本进行自动三维扫描。在显微镜的三种配置中图像质量保持一致，并且配置之间可以快速轻松地转换，同时运动控制系统可以重新用于实现亚微米级的计算机控制显微操作。Flexiscope提供了与市售系统相似的性能和可用性。然而，由于它可以轻松重新配置以用于多种用途，因此无需购买多台显微镜，从而节省了大量成本。模块化的可重新配置特性允许用户根据自己的特定需求定制系统，并在出现挑战时对系统进行调整/升级，而无需专门的技术技能。
