Netherlands - Microscopes - Confocal Microscope

The Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR) (part of the Faculty of Science of Leiden University) is seeking tenders for the procurement of one advanced microscope capable of performing image-guided single-cell sampling and isolation using confocal imaging and lifetime fluorescence. The microscope will be used for the Exposome Scan Dutch infrastructure and located at the Leiden Cell Observatory (LCO). With this microscope we aim to develop a microscopy-based infrastructure that enables both i) high-throughput phenotypic screening in 3D live advanced cell systems and ii) image-guided single-cell and intracellular component sampling. This infrastructure will serve scientists interested in screening relevant compound libraries in a wide variety of advanced fluorescent reporter cell systems (e.g., human stem cells cultured in 2D and differentiated in 3D microtissues such as liver or kidney organoids) and obtaining a mechanistic understanding of specific imaged phenotypes using a multi-omics approach. The microscope hardware must provide the following functionality: 1) Hardware: Label-free (brightfield or transmission), and lifetime microscopy. Time-lapse microscopy (incubator for a controlled environment). Confocal microscopy for 2D and 3D reporter cell systems cultured in multi-well plates. Automated high-content microscopy (automated stage with high X, Y, Z accuracy for both screening and automated micro sampling). High reproducibility in Z focus needed for time-lapse 2D/3D microscopy (perfect focus/autofocus). 2) Software: Software must be able to communicate with third-party software controlling the micro-sampling robotic. Smart microscopy functionality that allows the automated detection of single-cell events such as: Recognition of intracellular organelles or parts of the cytoplasm. Recognition of a cell next to a target cell. Recognition of cells with different morphologies. Recognition of cells or intracellular components with different lifetime signals. Recognition of specific cell regions based on different fluorescent lifetime signals. Single-cell cloning from cells displaying a unique phenotype. 4) FAIR Compliance: Imaging data must comply with the FAIR principles, including compatibility with the OMERO database and preferentially generating OME-ZARR standards. The microscope must have state-of-the-art reliability and be compatible with Dutch work environment safety regulations (ARBO).