The CAF Fluorescence Microscopy Unit houses fluorescence-based instruments for assessing the various properties of cells, particles or molecules of interest in a wide variety of samples.
The two techniques used in the unit are fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. With fluorescence microscopy one is able to determine localization/co-localization as well as mean intensity of a molecule of interest and with some advancements in the techniques structural analysis on a nanoscale is now possible. Flow cytometry performs multicolour quantification and sorting of cell or particle populations.
Main Campus: Fluorescence Microscopy Unit
The unit on main campus specializes in both single cell and population statistics as well as imaging of a wide variety of sample types using fluorescence based techniques.
Both our microscopes are supplied with incubation systems, controlling the temperature and gas flow of the imaging chamber during imaging, which allows for very dynamic analysis of cell function, for example during migration studies.
The unit is also equipped with a high-end microscope with two different super-resolution platforms, SR SIM and PALM/STORM. This technology allows a dramatic increase in the achievable limit of resolution, to visualise structures as small as 100 nm and 30 nm respectively. In 2015 the microscope has been upgraded with a Shuttle and Find plugin, which allows for correlative microscopy with our Electron Microscopy Unit. This technique enables a researcher to image the same sample on both the super-resolution microscope and an electron microscope. With the addition of these high-end techniques to our current collection at Stellenbosch University, South African researchers now have access to high-quality imaging.
The unit houses the following instruments:
For specific instrument settings and configurations, click on the name of each instrument.
Tygerberg Campus: CAF Lite Flow Cytometry Division
Flow cytometry is one of the most powerful techniques for characterization of properties of cells and particles. This technology allows for the rapid and concurrent measurement of the physical and fluorescent parameters of 0.5-50µm particles, as they pass through a laser beam, giving information about the relative size, internal complexity and fluorescence intensity of the particles or cells of interest. The Tygerberg CAF Lite Flow Cytometry Division includes all the flow cytometers in the BD-CAF Flow Cytometry Centre, as well as the Facility for Infectious sorting, which is housed in a BSLIII laboratory in the Department of Biomedical Sciences. The BD-CAF Flow Cytometry Centre is jointly managed by BD Biosciences and CAF.
BD Biosciences-CAF Flow Cytometry Centre
Instruments:
Facility for Infectious Sorting
Instruments:
For specific instrument settings and configurations, click on the name of each instrument.
