Rocinante (Zeiss CellDiscoverer 7)

An automated microscope for live cell imaging across widefield, confocal and Airyscan 2 modalities. It is built for long-term unattended runs, down to a self-watering 50x objective so a multi-day experiment does not dry out.

Configuration. Fully automated inverted stand with an Axiocam 506 mono CCD covering roughly 350 to 1000 nm through the protection glass, at 4096 x 3008 (12 megapixel) with 3.45 um pixels. Widefield excitation comes from a 7-channel LED source (385, 470, 567, 625 / 425, 520, 590 nm) with high-efficiency multiband filter sets FS 90 HE and FS 91 HE; confocal and Airyscan 2 run at 405, 488, 561 and 640 nm. One-photon photostimulation is available. Transmitted light uses an IR-LED at 725 nm for brightfield with adaptive Phase Gradient Contrast. Live imaging is supported with heating and CO2, alongside Z-stacks and time lapse.

Objectives. Plan-Apochromat 5x/0.35; Plan-Apochromat 20x/0.7 autocorr (FWD 2.2 mm); Plan-Apochromat 20x/0.95 autocorr (FWD 0.76 mm); Plan-Apochromat 50x/1.2 W autocorr (FWD 0.84 mm). A 0.5x, 1x and 2x magnification changer works with every lens, giving effective magnifications from 2.5x to 100x.

Zen modules. Tiles and Positions, Autofocus, Fast Acquisition, Experiment Designer, Image Analysis, Advanced Processing, Measurement, Multi Channel, Z-Stack, Time Lapse, and Extended Focus.

Software. Zen 3.2 CellDiscoverer. Zeiss publishes a training playlist for this system.