UCLA and Leica establish center of excellence in microscopy at California NanoSystems Institute

Advanced Light Microscopy and Spectroscopy Laboratory

Providing a unique collection of leading-edge optical microscopes, small-animal imaging devices, and fluorescent probes

ALMS Confocal MicroALEX Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy

Main uses: Alternating laser excitation spectroscopy. FRET ratio and stoichiometry measurements at very low light levels

The MicroALEX-FCS is a custom built single-molecule microscopy set-up for alternating laser excitation spectroscopy

Highlights of this microscope include:

Confocal or wide-field geometry.
Olympus IX71 microscope stand.
3 alternating lasers (blue, green and red) for FRET-based measurement in solution.
Alternating Laser Excitation spectroscopy: ALEX.
3 APD detectors.
Fast time-correlated counting board (6 ns-resolution).
EMCCD camera and PC computer for recording and processing data.
Data can be plotted with stoichiometry vs. FRET to show different fluorochrome FRET combinations much like a plot from a flow cytometer.