Search the CONFOCAL archive at http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal Hi Sarah- against my better judgement, I have looked at bacteria attached to the bottom of plastic multi-well plates - Corning Costar 3603 - and got beautiful images, to my surprise. I used our upright Nikon scopes and Leica confocal, and turned the plates upside down. For those that attached to glass, I used Whatman glass-bottomed plates like you mentioned - and those were the very nice images you would expect. Betsey ************************************************************************ Betsey Pitts Research Associate/Facilities Manager, Microscopy The Center for Biofilm Engineering http://www.erc.montana.edu 366 EPS Building, Montana State University Bozeman, MT 59717 [log in to unmask] Ph (406) 994-7813 Fax (406) 994-6098 ************************************************************************ -----Original Message----- From: Sarah Locknar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2003 9:37 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: plastic on inverted scope Search the CONFOCAL archive at http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal Hi- I have a couple of users who want to image cells grown in plastic microwell plates on an inverted scope. Of course, the plastic is too thick to image through, but when I suggested that they grow them on glass coverslips they replied that the cells don't stick as well and grow differently on similarly coated glass. Is it possible to buy microwell plates with thinner plastic bottoms, and where would I buy such a thing? In previous postings I got the feeling that the only available ones had glass coverslip bottoms. Also, would the images suffer greatly when imaging through plastic versus glass? Would a better option be to just get a longer-working distance lens? Thanks in advance- Sarah ------------------------------------------------------------ Sarah Locknar, Ph.D. Director, Neuroscience COBRE Imaging/Physiology Core University of Vermont 802-656-0413 ------------------------------------------------------------