Nikon Instruments Inc. Unveils New Ti-diSPIM System at Cell Biology 2014

Nikon Instruments Inc. is pleased to introduce the new Ti-diSPIM, an evolution in light-sheet imaging. The Ti-diSPIM combines selective plane illumination (aka light-sheet) with Nikon’s inverted research microscope to enable cell-friendly, high-speed 4D imaging while maintaining all of the applications available on the Nikon Ti. This includes applications such as photostimulation and FRAP, as well as other acquisition methods such as point scanning confocal imaging or widefield fluorescence imaging. The system will debut at the annual American Society for Cell Biology, ASCB/IFCB meeting, December 6-10, 2014 in Philadelphia, and will be available for sale in early spring 2015.

Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy (SPIM) is an extremely cell-friendly method for imaging live specimens as it only illuminates the region of the sample that is being captured and minimizes phototoxicity and photobleaching. In comparison, confocal, and standard epi-fluorescence microscopy illuminate the entire depth of the sample including regions outside of the volume that’s being imaged. In SPIM, a thin sheet of light is used to illuminate a focal plane of the cell that is coincident with the focus of the imaging lens. Not only does this method minimize photobleaching and phototoxicity but it also provides optical sectioning by not illuminating out-of-focus regions which would normally result in image blur.

Because of the unusual requirements on instrument geometry, selective plane illumination microscopes have traditionally been highly specialized instruments limited to very specific samples or applications. However, Nikon’s Ti-diSPIM enables sample and application flexibility by combining Applied Scientific Instrument’s (ASI) diSPIM hardware with the Ti, Nikon’s flagship inverted research microscope. The Ti-diSPIM enables users to flexibly combine all of the applications that are available for the Ti such as FRAP, photostimulation, point-scanning confocal, and even TIRF with light-sheet imaging - an unprecedented capability. In addition, Ti-diSPIM rapidly acquires two different views of the sample to generate 3D images with isotropic resolution in XYZ. Ti-diSPIM instrument control and image analysis have been seamlessly incorporated into Nikon’s powerful NIS-Elements imaging software to provide an effortless imaging experience.

The SPIM hardware on the Ti-diSPIM was co-developed by Dr. Hari Shroff of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Applied Scientific Instrumentation (ASI). Nikon offers both dual-view SPIM imaging for isotropic XYZ resolution(1,2) and single-view SPIM imaging for those requiring even faster imaging(3). Nikon also offers two different objective lenses for SPIM. The 40x 0.8 N.A. provides up to 300nm resolution in XY and Z (using dual-view mode) while the 10x provides a larger field of view. Objective lenses for the standard Ti-based applications such as confocal, FRAP or photostimulation are not limited by the SPIM setup as they share different imaging paths.

The main features of the Nikon Ti-diSPIM system include:
• Dual-view and single-view Selective Plane Illumination.The Ti-diSPIM system provides extremely cell-friendly, high-speed, multi-color, 4D imaging in both dual-view and single-view modes.
• Combination with Nikon’s Ti provides ultimate versatility.Nikon’s inverted research microscope, the ECLIPSE Ti, enables the combination of complex imaging applications such as FRAP, photostimulation and confocal with light- sheet imaging.
• Seamless control of Ti-diSPIM through Nikon’s NIS-Elements software.Control of the instrument and image analysis have been seamlessly integrated into NIS-Elements for effortless control over complex imaging experiments including SPIM.

The new Nikon Ti-diSPIM system will be available Spring 2015.

1Wu, Y. et al., Spatially isotropic four-dimensional imaging with dual-view plane illumination microscopy, Nature Biotechnology, 2013.
2Kumar, A. et al., Dual-view plane illumination microscopy for rapid and spatially isotropic imaging, Nature Protocols, 2014.
3Wu, Y., et al., Inverted selective plane illumination microscopy (iSPIM) enables coupled cell identity lineaging and neurodevelopmental imaging in C. elegans, PNAS, 2011.