Basque Resource for Advanced Light Microscopy (BRALM)

• Life & Medical Sciences

Igor de la Arada (igor.delaarada@ehu.eus) and Artur Escalada (artur.escalada@csic.es).

The Basque Resource for Advanced Light Microscopy (BRALM) of the Instituto Biofisika (IBF), a joint research center of the University of the Basque Country (EHU) and the Spanish Research Council (CSIC), is an open access facility offering state-of-the-art advanced light microscopy equipment and image analysis resources. Supported by the Fundación Biofísica Bizkaia (FBB) and by the Department of Education of the Basque Government, BRALM focuses on quantitative imaging of cellular events through the implementation of sophisticated imaging modes and data analysis. BRALM takes part in the Bilbao Advanced Light Microscopy Node of the EuroBioImaging ERIC network.

• Confocal Scanning microscopy
• Two-photon microscopy
• Spinning Disk Confocal Super Resolution microscopy
• Stimulated emission depletion microscopy (STED)
• Single Molecule Localization Microscopy (STROM,PALM,SPT,DNA-PAINT, ...)
• Single Particle Tracking (SPT)
• Structured Illumination microscopy (Apotome)
• TIRF microscopy
• Photomanipulation, Ablation and Microdissection
• Functional Imaging. With emphasis upon quantification of molecular interactions by FRET-FLIM and FCCS
  1. Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging (FLIM), including living cell FLIM, focused on quantitative inter- and intramolecular FRET quantification
  2. Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS) and Fluorescence Cross Correlation Spectroscopy (FCCS): measurements of molecular diffusion, affinity constants and intermolecular interactions in solution
  3. Scanning FCS and scanning FCCS: measurements of molecular diffusion, lipid-protein and protein-protein affinity constants and molecular interaction in GUV (giant unilamellar vesicles) and living cells
  4. Generalised Polarisation (GP): quantitative measurements of lipid order in GUV
• Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)
• Micropatterning, hydrogel polymerization and microfabrication
• Multimode plate reader
• Image Analysis Workstation (with Huygens, Imaris or MatLab licenses among others)
• 3D Print SLA

Biofisika Institute (CSIC/UPV-EHU) - Science Park of the UPV/EHU - Barrio Sarriena s/n - 48940 - Leioa, (Bizkaia).

Equipment:

• Olympus IXplore SpinSR10: The Olympus IXplore SpinSR10 spinning disk confocal super resolution microscope is designed to provide Super resolution (down to 120nm XY resolution) and prolonged cell viability in confocal time-lapse imaging due to less phototoxicity and bleaching.
• Leica TCS SP5 + MP: The Leica TCS SP5 is an advanced confocal microscope suitable for scanning fixed samples and live cell imaging. The microscope is equipped with 3 PMT, 2 Hybrid and 2 APD detectors and has been adapted to Mai-Tai Infrared Laser and a Becker & Hickl TCSPC System to perform.
• ONi Nanoimager: The ONI Nanoimager is a compact microscope suitable for Single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) experiments, including dStorm, PALM or DNA-PAINT, Single Particle Tracking (SPT), smFRET, HILO or TIRF.
• Zeiss Axio Observer 7 - Apotome 3: The Zeiss Axio Observer 7 is a standard widefield fluorescence microscope equipped with a Zeiss Apotome 3, capable of creating optical sections of the fluorescent.
• JPK Nanowizard UltraSpeed AFM: Mounted on a Zeiss Axio Observer 7 equipped with a Zeiss Apotome 3, the JPK Nanowizard UltraSpeed Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) enables the tracking of changes in the specimen in real time.
• Alvéole Primo 2 Micropatterning System: Mounted on a Nikon Ti2 widefield fluorescence microscope, the Alvéole Primo 2 allows, all in a single device, micropatterning, hydrogel polymerization and microfabrication, to create bespoke in vitro cellular microenvironments or to get better cell models for cell biology experiments or electron cryotomography studies.
• Tecan Spark: Multimode microplate reader fully configurable for Absorbance, Fluorescence, Time Resolved Fluorescence (TRF), Fluorescence Polarization (FP) or Luminescence experiments.
• Image Analysis: An Intel Xeon W-2255 3.70GHz (10 Cores) workstation equipped with 512GB of RAM, Nvidia RTX A4000 16GB GPU and ultrafast NVMe SSD disks. Software installed: BitPlane Imaris Core Facility, SVI Huygens, Matlab R2026, FiJi/ImageJ, LAS X Core, FLIMfit...
• Formlabs Form 3+: A resin 3D printer that uses improved SLA technology. The Form 3+ is characterized by creating prototypes on a larger scale with a printing volume of 145x145x185 mm and by manufacturing final pieces with industrial quality.