Through partnership with The University of Strathclyde, CoolLED are excited to announce the latest leap forward in LED illumination for microscopy – the pE-340 fura. The pE-340 fura is a bespoke LED illuminator for Fura-2 imaging which also supports everyday fluorescence microscopy in a compact and affordable package.
Launching in September 2017, the pE-300 fura will offer;
The right wavelengths
- A genuine 340nm LED with more than enough intensity at the sample plane to out-perform traditional approaches.
- A very powerful LED at 380nm which is suitable for both Fura-2 and everyday dyes such as DAPI and Hoechst.
- A broad white output from 435nm – 645nm allowing sample healthy cells to be distinguished from dying cells using dyes such as Propidium Iodide (PI)or everyday imaging with fluorophores including CFP GFP/FITC, YFP, Tritc/TxRed/mCherry, Cy5 and similar
- All of this is delivered via UV optimised optics which allow maximum power delivery on standard microscope configurations
Control and compatibility
Based on the highly successful pE-300 Series the pE-340 fura has benefits from many of the same features:
- Can be mounted directly on a vast range of microscopes, old and new.
- Can be coupled to the microscope via a UV optimised liquid light guide and optional collimator for applications which are particularly sensitive to noise of any type.
- Can also be controlled via convenient BNC TTL connections for precise illumination control in as little as 20 microseconds. Connectivity includes “per channel”, global and a sequence runner.
More than just a replacement for traditional approaches
Pre-launch testing of the pE-340 fura has confirmed some exciting benefits for Fura-2 users:
- The inherent stability of LED illumination reduces the noise level of the light source to a range below that of the wider experiment, reducing false positives and increasing overall precision
- Higher signal to noise gives cleaner images and data whilst requiring less Fura-2 dye, reducing toxicity and costs.