The Vanderbilt Medical Center CISR Facility provides Confocal, Electron, Widefield, and Image Processing equipment for use in medical research studies by various faculty, staff, and students. Here, you can review the various aspects of each system and determine which application better suites your needs. Please remember, access to all CISR equipment is limited to registered users only. Click Here for more information on the registration process.

Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM or LSCM) is a technique for obtaining high-resolution optical images. The key feature of confocal microscopy is its ability to produce in-focus images of thick specimens, a process known as optical sectioning. Images are acquired point-by-point and reconstructed with a computer, allowing three-dimensional reconstructions of topologically-complex objects.

Electron Microscopy uses a particle beam of electrons to illuminate a specimen and create a highly-magnified image. Electron microscopes have much greater resolving power and can obtain much higher magnifications of up to 2 million times. The greater resolution and magnification of the electron microscope is due to the fact that the wavelength of an electron, its de Broglie wavelength, is much smaller than that of a light photon. The electron microscope uses electrostatic and electromagnetic lenses in forming the image by controlling the electron beam to focus it at a specific plane relative to the specimen.