We'll give a tour of the microscopes we have available at CCL, show you which one to use for which purpose, how how to use them, and which ones to prioritize for repair. Feel free to bring in your own scope if you have one, and we'll be happy to teach you how to use it (and/or diagnose what's wrong with it...)

For the microscopy experts, we'll also go over the fancy super-resolution STED microscope we've just been donated by BioCuriuous! This kind of equipment would normally start in the $200K range. A dedicated team at BioCurious spent more than a year building this one from scratch, starting from the microscope engine out of a donated GA IIx DNA sequencer - a piece of machinery that probably cost well over $500K itself when it was new just a few years ago. A truly unique piece of equipment.

STED microscopy is one of the techniques used to break the diffraction limit in optical microscopy, allowing visualization of subcellular structures that were previously only accessible using electron microscopy!

We are looking to build an expert user group around this new instrument, so come join us and help us get it up and running to do some awesome science with it!