Nanoscopy

The Stellaris 8 super-resolution optical microscope equipped with Falcon τ-STED (Leica, Germany) is the most advanced system for microscopy to date offered by Leica. The system acquired by DIFILAB represented the first European installation of this advanced system. The machine uses a white laser to excite fluorescence, allowing the acquisition of images in confocal mode in a wide range of wavelengths. The microscope can work in classic confocal mode or in super-resolution mode (STED). The advanced Falcon τ-STED option allows the acquisition of the lifetime of the fluorescence in every point of the image. Stellaris 8 significantly expands the investigation capacity of DIFILAB in the biophysical and biomedical field.

The user interface of the Stellaris 8 system is simple and intuitive, facilitating the use of the machine also by non-expert researchers, but mainly interested in medical or biological aspects.

Stellaris 8 can be coupled with the Nanowizard IV Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) (Bruker, USA) present at DIFILAB. The integrated AFM-STED instrument proposed by DIFILAB opens new paths in the field of correlative microscopy and represents a unique system for performance on the European scene. The AFM-STED integration is accessible to researchers outside the University of Genoa under the frame of the European project MOSBRI (MOlecular-Scale Biophysics Research Infrastructure, www.mosbri.eu).