Content: About us • Recent announcements

We maintain several confocal microscopes, 2 super resolution live cell imaging microscopes, a transmission electron microscope, and sample preparation labs.

• light microscopy
  • GE DeltaVision OMX SR: a super resolution live cell imaging microscope with structured illumination and TIRF, with built-in stage-top incubator for gas and temperature control
  • Leica SP5 II: a confocal laser scanning microscope with both conventional and resonant point scanners, 7 laser lines, and 4 spectral detectors; suitable for both fixed or live preparation; installed on an inverted stand with motorized stage to facilitate xyzλt and multi-location image acquistion; FRAP and FRET wizards, and ROI scan are available
  • Nikon A1R HD25: a laser scanning confocal microscope with conventional and full field resonant scanners, 4 laser lines; 4 epifluorescent detectors - 2 multialkaline and 2 GaAsP, and 1 transmitted light detector; suitable for both fixed or live preparation; installed on an inverted stand with Perfect Focus and motorized stage to facilitate xyzt and multi-location image acquistion; driven with NIS-Elements for AI-based denoise; stage-top incubator with gas and temperature control
  • Yokogawa CSU-X1: a spinning disk confocal microscope with microlens enhanced Nipkow disk for live cell imaging; high quantum yield sCMOS camera and 4 laser lines; super resolution imaging addon for spinning disk; installed on an inverted stand with Perfect Focus and motorized stage to facilitate xyzt and multi-location image acquistion; driven with NIS-Elements for deconvolution and denoise; stage-top incubator with gas and temperature control
  • Olympus IX81 with DSU: a spinning disc unit with slit apertures for live cell imaging using a high dynamic range EM-CCD camera with a stable Xenon plasma light source; installed on an inverted stand with motorized stage to facilitate xyzt and multi-location image acquistion
  • various compound and dissecting microscopes for photomicrography: Nikon Eclipse E600FN, Wild M8, and Zeiss Axio Zoom.V16
• electron microscopy
  • Philips CM100 transmission electron microscope: a biological TEM operating at 40 kV to 100 kV with better than 4 nm resolution, image can be captured with an Olympus Morada 11-megapixel digital camera up to 2672×3615 pixels, typical image at high magnification has a pixel size of 0.55 nm and the field of view is 1.46 µm × 1.98 µm
• ancillary labs for sample preparation.

The Biology Imaging Facility is a recharge center and expenses are recovered through hourly charges. The current rates have been approved by Management Accounting and Analysis (MAA) and the Dean's Office in June 2018. The Facility is open to any department or unit affiliated with the University of Washington. External users are also welcome.

All users are subscribed to the IF-forum mailing list to receive announcements from us on recent development and equipment availability. Users can also use the forum to discuss equipment usage or technique, and notify other users for schedule changes or cancellations. You can read the past postings here on the mailing list archive. To further encourage interactions among users, we organize a meeting every fall to introduce our microscopes and services to new members of the Dept and also to discuss any topics our users bring up e.g., sample preparation technique, imaging protocol, facility policy, etc. We have summaries of the past meetings.

Recent announcements

6/27/2025

• Pang will be out the following days with limited internet access. The Facility will operate as usual. Please plan accordingly if you will need training or assistance.
  • July 18, 2025 PM

3/19/2025

• STF has partially funded our proposal for an Evident VS200 slide scanner! We can apply for an amendment request after a year for additional funding to buy other accessories e.g., epifluorescence, multi-slides loader, etc. Please stay tuned for updates.

4/8/2024 update

• Biology's STF funded projects that are applicable to imaging are listed on our Information page under Misc. resources

3/12/2019

• OMX SR users: please acknowledge grant proposal S10 OD021490 on any publications that have used this microscope.