High Speed and High Resolution Inverted Confocal Microscope System

This Request for Proposals (the “RFP”) is an invitation by the University of Ottawa (the “University”) to prospective proponents to submit proposals for a High Speed and High Resolution Inverted Confocal Microscope System, funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Research Fund.

THE DELIVERABLES

The propsed equipment is a high speed and high resolution inverted confocal microscope system that will be used to study interactions between capturing bioligands, such as antibodies and aptamers, immobilized on the inner wall of microfluidic channels and their targeted particles, such as bacterial cells in samples of interest. Additionally, the proposed equipment will be used to study different flow patterns in microfluidic channels as we change microfluidic channel inner wall designs. Finally, the proposed high resolustion confocal microscope system will be used to image both 2D and 3D sample preparations, cell cultures and organoids.
An essential component of this research is to study the interactions between the surface tethered bioligands, such as antibodies and aptamers, and their targeted particles, such as baterial cells under flow conditions inside of microfluidic channels. This will be accomplished via confocal imaging to monitor how fluorescently labled baterial cells are captured by bioligands immobilized on the inners surfaces of the midrofluidic channles. As the required task is to image inside of microfluidic channles, the confocal system must be able to image large depth through glass (slides or cover slips) and ideally polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). In addition, since the confocal system will be used to routinely study flow conditions under high flow rates, high speed imaging under dim to very dim signal intensities is required.
Another major component of the study using the proposed confocal system is to study and control the microfluidic channel flow patterns by different channel wall designs. This research will be realized by using the proposed confocal microscope as localized flow rate probe within a small controlled volume at specific points of interest throughout the microfluidic channels. Due to the large amount of expected data to be processed, automated concentration profiling using the confocal microscope is desired.
Finally, the proposed high resolustion confocal microscope system will be rountinely used to image both 2D and 3D sample preparations, cell cultures and organoids. Therefore the confocal imaging system is required to be equipped with fluorescence capabilities for at least FITC, GFP, TRITC, Cy3, DAPI, and Cy5.
The confocal microscope should also be equipped with 2.5x, 10x, 20x, & 40x objectives. In addition, the microscope should be equipped with high resolution and high sensitivity digital cameras. Finally, the microscope will be equipped with software and powerful computer capabilities of to allow extended depth of focus, software autofocus, multiposition experiments, large area high resolution imaging, colocalization, image analysis, and intelligent acquisition. The microscope should also be equipped with phase contrast, polarizing and ideally DIC microscopy.

Mandatory Technical Specifications Requirements:

1.0 - Microscope

1.1 - Must be on a fully motorized inverted microscope with motorized x-y scanning stage

1.2 - Must have phase contrast microscopy for all objectives

1.3 - Must have polarizing microscopy capability and components

1.4 - Focus must be performed automatically for all combinations of objectives and wavelengths

1.5 - Must be equipped with fluorescence capabilities for at least FITC, GFP, TRITC, Cy3, DAPI, and Cy5.

1.6 - Must have Insert for: Slides 1, Petri dishes, Plates

1.7 - Must have Anti vibration platform for the microscope required for stable imaging

1.8 - The overall footprint of the whole microscope setup (everything included) cannot be more than  171  cm wide x 104 cm deep

1.9 - Must be able to confocal image through glass and PDMS and imaging depth must be more than 150 micron

1.10 - Resolution must be 120 nm or better

1.11 - The optical sectioning method must not rely on deconvolution or aperture correlation

1.12 - Must be able to analyse localized flow rate within a small controlled volume (volume in sub um3 ) at specific points of interest throughout the microfluidic channels.

2.0 - Cameras

2.1 - Must be equipped with a monochrome camera with the following minimum specifications:

• 5 mpxls+ cooled USB 3 equivalent to 2/3-inch chip
• Live Frame rate 2464 × 2056 30 fps
• Recording Frame rate 2464 × 2056 60 fps
• 1x adaptor with trigger cables

2.2 - Must be equipped with a color camera with the following minimum specifications:

• 5 mpxls
• Live 36 frames / s @ max 2,464 × 2,056 pixels
• USB 3.0 SuperSpeed (5 Gbit / s)
• 1x c mount

Bidding and Documents are available on http://www.merx.com . Fees may apply; See https://www.merx.com/public/pricing for more information.

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