Carl Zeiss Lattice SIM 5 laser scanning structured illumination super-resolution light microscope and Associated Supplies

Attachment 8 - AMENDMENT 1 Q&A - is attached. This amendment addresses questions and answers related to this solicitation.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Cancer Institute (NCI) Center for Cancer Research (CCR), Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Genetics (LCBG), CCR Microscopy Core requires one (1) new, commercially available, Zeiss Lattice SIM5 super-resolution light microscope.

The National Cancer Institute is the principal federal agency for cancer research and training. It leads, conducts, and supports cancer research to advance scientific knowledge and improve cancer prevention, detection, diagnosis, and survivorship. The Center for Cancer Research (CCR) is the largest division of the NCI’s intramural research program with both basic and clinical research groups exploring the cutting edge of cancer research involving a wide spectrum of biological and biomedical problems that range from visualizing and understanding the structure of genes and proteins and developing novel assays to detect and potentially treat patients. The CCR Microscopy Core, the main microscopy core in the CCR, serves the imaging needs of a wide range of NCI researchers studying the cell biology of cancer. The core facility has five high-quality research-grade instruments, including confocal, multi-photon and super-resolution microscopes, to apply to the numerous research projects from the over 45 labs/branches within NCI, that use the Core annually. To satisfy the demands for super-resolution fluorescence microscopy, the CCR Microscopy Core requests a new Zeiss Lattice SIM5 structured illumination super-resolution microscope. Structured illumination super-resolution microscopy is an established method for acquiring high resolution images of biological samples and is in high demand from NCI researchers. The demand arises from the need to understand the molecular interactions of cellular proteins and the gene expression profiles of tumor cells. Super-resolution microscopy provides researchers the ability to visualize these molecular interactions within cells, and the newest SIM technology available from the requested Zeiss Latice SIM5 microscope will allow researchers to image these interactions in live cells. Thus, providing this cutting-edge technology to NCI researchers to apply to their cancer research projects and further improve our understanding of the cell biology of cancer.

The CCR Microscopy Core requires a new Zeiss Lattice SIM5 super-resolution microscope that shall include a high-speed lattice SIM5 scanner, dual high-sensitivity sCMOS cameras with Duolink configuration for simultaneous 2 channel imaging, four high-power lasers (wavelengths 405, 488, 561 and 647 nm), 500 um Piezo stage, stage-top incubation for live cell imaging, and both high numerical aperture oil and water immersion objective lenses for super-resolution imaging. Thus, it provides extended capabilities to image complex samples but also has the capability to perform functional live cell SIM imaging on larger biological samples. All users of the CCR Microscopy Core interested in performing SIM super-resolution microscopy will benefit from the requested Zeiss Lattice SIM5 microscope.