Hi Mario,

Celltak is an excellent biological adhesive and would be particularly appropriate for your fixed preps.  It is the glue that marine mussels use to attach to rocks in the intertidal (read that "high wave action") zone.  There can be some problems with live cells as the adhesion is so strong that normal physiology can be disturbed. 

http://www.bdbiosciences.com/external_files/dl/doc/manuals/live/web_enabled/354240_pug.pdf 

C 

Carl A. Boswell
520-742-6131


-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mario Faretta
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2012 5:42 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: mammospheres attachment

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Dear all,
we are trying to image fixed cell spheroids (>100um diameter) on a leica
sp5 inverted confocal microscope. The high resolution objectives we use have short but sufficient working distance to analyse the spheres if they attached to the  coverslip.  However standard coatings as polilysine are not efficient in immobilizing them (even if they can initially adhere we loose them extensively during staining). We tried also particular gels as Q gel but we were not able to find a reproducible protocol to have them clearly attached to the substrate instead of being simply embedded in the gel.
I know that new high NA water-immersion long working-distance objectives could provide the simplest solution but unfortunately their cost is quite limiting.
thanks for all the answers
Mario

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---PLEASE Note the change in telephone number---

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Mario Faretta
Department of Experimental Oncology
European Institute of Oncology
c/o IFOM-IEO Campus for Oncogenomics
via Adamello 16 20139 Milan Italy
Phone: ++39-0294375027
email: [log in to unmask]
http://www.ifom-ieo-campus.it