Imaging and microscopy capabilities include Zeiss LSM980 and Zeiss LSM710 confocal microscopes equipped with environmental chambers for controlling temperature, humidity and CO2 levels, a Zeiss Elyra that allow for maximum spatial resolution of cellular structures marked with fluorescent dyes below the classic diffraction limit of microscopes, a Nikon Eclipse Ti-U inverted microscope, a BioTek Synergy 2 microplate reader equipped for fluorescence polarization and lifetime measurements, and a Bioteck Cytation 5 plate reader and imager. An Agilent Cary 3500 UV/vis with Multicell Peltier spectrophotometer offers photometric performance together with unique measurement capabilities. A DriveAFM system from Nanosurf equipped with a motorized stage that enables scanning of large areas (>10 mm²). All capabilities and equipment for soft lithography, microfluidic imaging systems used for the assembly, visualization, and patterning of biological materials within multi-scale fluidic platforms are available, including polymer degassing vacuum ovens, curing ovens, and plasma chambers for irreversible sealing of polydimethylsiloxane manifolds. A MatlabTM derived software GUI and customized hardware to regulate backpressure within microfluidic systems have been developed to allow programmable pressure control of microfluidic flow. Several epifluorescent microscope systems are used for these efforts.
