LaVison BioTec, developers of advanced microscopy solutions for the life sciences, are presenting workshops on their 2-photon and light sheet microscope systems at the 15th Annual meeting of the European Light Microscopy Initiative in Sitges near Barcelona in Spain. 

The 15th annual meeting of the European Light Microscopy Initiative continues the goals of the first meeting in 2001, namely to promote the quickly developing field of light microscopy as a fundamental research tool for the life sciences and to strengthen the channels of communication between researchers and industry. The combination of top level scientific presentations with practical hands-on workshops brings participants from all over the world. LaVision BioTec return this year with their latest products and applications for the life science microscopist. 

Having launched the first commercial light sheet microscope in 2009, LaVision BioTec present their second generation system which has been inspired by our user's feedback. The UltraMicroscope II utilizes 6 thin light sheets to excite samples while the fluorescence light is detected with a sCMOS equipped macroscope that is mounted perpendicular to the plane illumination. Some of the most relevant clearing protocols like CUBIC, 3DISCO or iDISCO have been developed using the UltraMicroscope platform. It is the only light sheet microscope which can image samples ranging in size from over 1 cm to few µm in aqueous buffers and in organic solvents. The 10x zoom optic allows fast switching in between smallest to highest resolution without changing objective lenses. Different working distances from 4 mm to 10 mm are available. 

LaVision BioTec will also present the new 2-photon microscope which includes a new type of sample handling combined with standard 2-photon microscope equipment. Imaging of small samples from different sides can be challenging if they are embedded in a sample holder for upright or inverted microscope stands. In the Horizontal 2-Photon Microscope, the sample is fixed on top of a small tip that can be rotated by 360°. The complete tip-sample system is located in a measurement chamber that can be filled with water or buffer solution to image the sample in its necessary environment. The objective for 2-photon excitation and fluorescence detection is thereby mounted perpendicular to the sample. The defined rotation of the sample and the usage of standard scanning mirrors enable the recording of 3D image stacks from all sides. On the one hand, this increases the imaging depth and on the other hand provides a good optical resolution in all dimensions. The Horizontal 2-Photon Microscope can be employed on different fields of application, e.g. developmental biology, cancer research, or stem cell research. Samples can be images at high-speed in water, aqueous buffers, or clearing solutions. In addition, the Horizontal 2-Photon Microscope can be switched into a device that enables tomographic reconstruction of biological samples by some easy changes. 

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