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Optical Microscopy with Infectious Agents

An important component of the OMC operations is to provide advanced optical imaging resources to scientists working in the field of infectious diseases at the Galveston National Laboratory (GNL). In order to fulfill this component of our mission, the OMC includes 3 advanced microscopy core facilities equipped to perform microscopy work with infectious agents at BSL2 and BSL3 work environments. These facilities are located in Basic Science Building (BSL2) and GNL (BSL3). These microscopy facilities are equipped with resources to perform experiments ranging from fixed specimen to live cell imaging and intra vital and tissue multiphoton microscopy. See the table below for descriptions of available resources:

FacilityInstrumentCategoryAccess
BSB BSL2Zeiss LSM 880 with AiryscanConfocal, Superresolution, Live-cell, WidefieldIndependent after training
Zeiss LSM 510 MetaConfocalIndependent after training
Zeiss Lightsheet Z.1Lightsheet microscopy of cleared/live samplesIndependent after training
Nikon Swept Field Confocal and TIRFConfocal, Widefield, TIRFIndependent after training
 Olympus FV1000 with IR laserConfocal, Multiphoton, Live-cell
Supervision and training required
GNL BSL3Zeiss LSM 510 Meta Confocal Supervision and training required, open to BSL3 users only

To perform microscopy experiments with infectious materials users must have an already approved NOU that will need to be amended to include microscopy facility use in the project. Please download the OMC Manual (PDF) for more information on NOU requirements.