*****
To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
*****

Hi Doug,

If you or anyone else would like to buy an HCS confocal microscope, 
please buy our BD Pathway 855 HCS !!!  Reference for UM's use of the 
Pathway:

*Cabrera* O, Jacques-Silva MC, Berman DM, Fachado A, Echeverri F, Poo R, 
Khan A, Kenyon NS, Ricordi C, Berggren PO, *Caicedo* A. Automated, 
high-throughput assays for evaluation of human pancreatic islet 
function. </pubmed/18351020> Cell Transplant. 2008;16(10):1039-48. PMID: 
18351020.

Uses a CARV spinning disk confocal attachment (can slide or out of light 
path), has 2 Hg arc lamps, can do Fura-2 350/380 nm excitation ratioing, 
ORCA-ER camera - and can look by eyepiece in each of widefield and 
confocal modes. Has been off service contract for a year. We can even 
add in a somewhat disassembled CARV-1 unit (set up for a Zeiss Axiovert 
200M) at no extra charge. For that matter, if the price is right, the 
buyer is also welcome to our Zeiss LSM510 scanhead, electronics, lasers, 
more (I am turning its ex-LSM's Axiovert 200M into a widefield system, 
but could ship that too if the price is right).

GE InCell 6000 - This illuminates one line at a time (presumably 
resolution limited by the objective lens?) and detection is user 
selectable number of pixels across the line, using the rolling shutter 
mode of a 5.5 megapixel sCMOS. They refer to it as acting as a 'virtual 
detection slit' (my phrase - you can check GE marketing for the exact 
phrase). I suggest that anything other than a physical slit (line 
equivalent of a pinhole) means this is not really a confocal microscope. 
Could still be quite useful.

With respect to your original question ... if the instrument loading and 
unloading is easy, and the software is easy to use and/or you have 
brilliant users who can easily learn and deal with any software, sure. I 
am going to guess the price of the InCell 6000 is in the $500K-$800K 
price range (depending on lasers, service contract, profit margin, etc) 
... and its annual service contract price is probably 10% of purchase 
price. So, are you really going to be able to make back the service 
contract price if you have someone count DAPI+ thingies a couple of 
times a day?  If you are going to spend the money on an HCS system, best 
to have enough expected utilization for HCS screens to pay for at least 
the service contract.

Sincerely,

George
University of Miami



On 6/4/2012 4:27 PM, Cromey, Douglas W - (dcromey) wrote:
> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> *****
>
> Arne,
>
> My boss specifically was asking about the GE InCell 6000, which is a slit scanning confocal.  But I expect that this issue will arise for a lot of us in the near future, and I was hoping for a broad discussion of the merits and short-comings of HCS devices.
>
> Thanks for your feedback.
> Doug
>
> ________________________________________
> From: Confocal Microscopy List [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Seitz Arne [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Monday, June 04, 2012 12:44 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: confocal HCS instruments - are they ready to occasionally replace a confocal microscope?
>
> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> *****
>
> Hi Doug,
>
> first of all it would be extremely helpful if you could specify/name the confocal principle the HCS instrument(s) is/are based on.
> I assume that they are spinning disk based (thus all following comments refer to this technology):
>
> The use of lenses without immersion media is recommended if you want to scan an entire 96/384 well plate. Unless you have a dispenser which is "refilling" the immersion media. Without such a device you risk that the objective is running out of immersion media. But if you are not planning to do multi position experiments you should be able to use oil/water immersion lenses with these systems as well.
> Then it is just the well-known trade-off between a point scanning confocal microscope and a spinning disk microscope (you should probably find dozens of posting concerning this topics here, otherwise it is nicely summarized in the  "Handbook of Confocal microscopy" J. Pawley, 3rd edition).
>
> In short:
> Spinning disk: + faster, wide-field detection scheme, less photobleaching. - less good optical sectioning capabilities, fixed pinhole size
>
> Thus spinning disk microscope are well suited for live cell imaging, less ideally suited for fixed specimens. So does the HCS instrument if is based on this technology.
>
> Best regards
> Arne
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> Arne Seitz
> Head of Bioimaging and Optics Platform (PT-BIOP)
> Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
> Faculty of Life Sciences
> Station 15, AI 0241
> CH-1015 Lausanne
>
> Phone: +41 21 693 9618
> Fax:      +41 21 693 9585
> http://biop.epfl.ch/
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
>
>    
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Confocal Microscopy List
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Cromey,
>> Douglas W - (dcromey)
>> Sent: lundi 4 juin 2012 19:25
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: confocal HCS instruments - are they ready to occasionally replace a
>> confocal microscope?
>>
>> *****
>> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
>> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
>> *****
>>
>> Colleagues,
>>
>> My supervisor has been contacted by one of the high-content screening
>> device companies.  They are pitching an HCS device with confocal scanning
>> abilities.  Since the HCS instrument can scan multi-well plates and microscope
>> slides, as well as provide environmental conditions for live cells, he was
>> wondering if it would be suitable as an entry-level confocal for some of our
>> users with non-demanding and/or functional live-cell assay kind of needs?
>>
>> I recognize that every optical instrument has compromises, are there
>> compromises that we don't want to make?  Seems like most of the HCS
>> systems favor dry lenses, with corresponding lower NAs at any given mag.
>>
>> The one concern I have is that the device might allow people to collect bad
>> data faster.  See Dave Piston's recent comment in Nature entitled "Research
>> tools: Understand how it works", Nature 484, 440-441 (26 April 2012)
>> doi:10.1038/484440a
>>
>> I am particularly interested in hearing from people who might have
>> experience with both point-scanning confocals and HCS instruments.
>>
>> Thanks.
>> Doug
>>