Morphology and Imaging Module
Administrator: Debra A. Thompson, Ph.D.
Staffed by: Mitchell Gillett, Manager/Technician
Email: mgillett@umich.edu
Phone: 734-615-7991
Fax: 734-936-3815
Module Services
The Morphology and Imaging Module is a service and resource module for processing ocular and brain tissues for light microscopy, immunocytochemistry and in situ hybridization. Specimens can also be fixed for Electron Microscopy to be performed at other facilities. Training in tissue processing, microtomy, staining, and immunohistological techniques are also provided. The secondary function of the Module is to aid imaging of research results for analysis, presentation, and/or publication. Two computers are dedicated to producing publication-quality images and text from data produced by the Module Computer training in image production is also provided.
Module Instrumentation
Morphology
- Leica CM3050 Cryostat
- Reichert steel knife sharpener
- Leitz rotary microtome for plastic sectioning
- Tissue-Tek Paraffin processing and embedding station
- Access to Shandon AS 325 paraffin microtome
- Shared access of the ARCTURUS Autopix Laser Capture Microdissection unit
- Standard light level biological stains and staining setup available
Imaging
- Research-quality Nikon E800 microscope with 2X-100X objectives, differential interference contrast optics (DIC), and transmitted and epi-fluorescence light sources. The microscope is fitted with a Nikon DMX1200 high-resolution color digital camera, interfaced with a Dell Pentium IV computer, Nikon camera control software, and Image-Pro Plus image analysis software.
- Epson Expression 1680 Flatbed scanner with dedicated G5 iMac running Adobe Creative suite (Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, In-Design with PageMaker plug-in, Acrobat and Go-Live). Also Microsoft Office X, and OCR software
- Nikon Super Coolscan 5000ED slide scanner, also associated with a G5 iMac
- Kodak DS 8650 color dye sublimation printer with dedicated G5 iMac
- Access to the UM Microscopy and Image Analysis Laboratory (MIAL) in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology for use of a BioRad or Zeiss laser scanning confocal microscope and a Philips transmission electron microscope
