*****
To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
*****

Hi Adrain,

I've been told by Leica people that they support time-gating of their HyD 
detectors on SP8 only. But there is no obvious hardware difference between 
SP5 and SP8 related to detector gating... Anyway, if you succeed, let me 
know. This would be great!

CW-STED has been demonstrated on living cells with various objectives (e.g. 
HCX PL APO 100 × /1.40–0.7 Oil, 592nm depletion), so it is possibe. I don't 
know what exactly is that special about "special STED 100x/1.4 oil 
objective". Some vendors (Nikon) offer pre-selected objectives with best 
performance (for extra price). 

Also, you probably don't plan to do much STED on living cells, as this is 
not really life-friendly technique (but others (like SIM) don't offer the 
resolution). I understand your concerns, STED is high tech, end 3D STED is 
even more sensitive to abberations. Leica reps should tell you more.

Last bit: living-cell experiments are very time-consuming. STED experiments 
even more so (on fixed samples). Try to spare some bucks and get a full 
second machine :-).

Good luck with your upgrade!
zdenek svindrych
lf1.cuni.cz


"To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
*****

Hi all,

We are considering applying for funds to upgrade our SP5 (c. 2008) to
enable CW gated-STED.

Has anyone done this upgrade? How did it go?

One thing in particular that we are concerned about is that we routinely
have the system at 37C for live work (it basically stays at 37 permanently)
but the STED objective is apparently designed for room temperature...

Any comments appreciated,

Thanks,

Adrian Smith
Centenary Institute, Sydney, AU"