MELVILLE, NY, May 27 - Selecting the right tools for in-vivo live-cell imaging tasks is no simple matter. Many researchers today are opting for a multiple mode imaging approach for discovering the smallest details of the living cell. Success depends on using the right combination of techniques, and the ability to operate the instrumentation at the limits of resolution, sensitivity and precision.

Nikon Inc. and Applied Precision Inc. (API) of Issaquah, WA, have joined forces in the U.S. to provide enabling technology that sets new standards in resolution and quantification for multiple mode microscopy. The companies are together introducing what has been described as the ultimate imaging toolbox for biology research - an integrated workstation that offers the best of both confocal imaging and image restoration / deconvolution capability.

The imaging toolbox comprises Applied Precision's DeltaVision® quantitative image restoration microscopy system, combined with Nikon's PCM2000® laser scanning confocal microscopy system and Nikon's Eclipse™ microscopes equipped with unsurpassed CFI60® infinity optics. It offers new flexibility for researchers who need the precision of NanoMotion® technology for high resolution imaging of a variety of specimens, or who want to view their specimens in a number of different ways.

The multiple mode imaging system, which is being sold by Nikon's nationwide network of authorized dealers in the USA, offers all the advantages of the various imaging tools, allowing users in the widest range of life science disciplines to achieve clearer, crisper, brighter images with maximum informational content, all on a single imaging system.

By incorporating Nikon's PCM 2000 confocal microscope, the toolbox offers:

• Laser scanning point excitation, point detection
• High resolution, high signal-to-noise acquisition ratios
• Thin optical sectioning on thick specimens
• Low magnification confocal images
• Instant acquisition of image sections
• Nikon CFI60 high numerical aperture long working distance optics, with their high resolution even at extreme magnifications, and their ultra-crisp, flat images

By incorporating API's DeltVision restoration microscope, the toolbox offers:

• Fast acquisition of images with greatly reduced phototoxicity effects (to record dynamic and kinetic changes)
• Routine live-cell imaging
• Highest resolution available
• Expanded intensity quantification
• Largest dynamic range
• Maximum flexibility in fluorescent probe selection

The technologies combined in the new multi-imaging microscopy system comprise some of the leading methodologies used by many researchers for optical viewing and analysis of research specimens. Confocal microscopes such as Nikon's PCM 2000 are used by researchers to view thick samples, often deep within tissue, image them clearly and precisely, layer by layer, and create 3D images of their specimens. They also are used for studying opaque objects with reflected light.

The DeltaVision image restoration systems, in contrast, do their best work at high resolution levels (less than 200 nanometers) for green fluorescence protein (GFP) and live cells, where great spectral flexibility and sensitivity, high resolution 3D, and a large dynamic and linear range are a must.

The new system offers the best of both worlds, so that researchers do not have to purchase two costly systems with different capabilities, but instead can use a single multi-dimensional system for a variety of advanced imaging purposes.

We announced our intention to develop and finalize this toolbox around six months ago," said Lee Shuett, manager of Nikon's Science and Technology Group, "and now this joint project has come to fruition. We are able to offer scientists a level of flexibility and performance unheard of before in life science imaging. The potential is unlimited."

For more information on the new ultimate imaging toolbox, contact API at hotline@api.com or Nikon Inc., BioSciences Department, 1300 Walt Whitman Road, Melville, NY 11747; or phone (800) 52-NIKON, ext. P9043. And visit the Nikon Inc. home page at www.nikonusa.com.

Nikon is the U.S. distributor of world renowned Nikon Microscopes systems for the biosciences, Nikon professional 35mm photography systems, compact automatic 35mm and Advanced photo System cameras, digital still cameras, the Nikon film scanners, Nikon Eyewear, Nikon sports and recreational optics, industrial inspection and measuring systems, NovAtel GPS systems, and Nikon surveying and ophthalmic instruments.

Applied Precision Inc. uses its expertise in electronics, software and precision-engineering to provide product solutions that repeatedly set new standards in semiconductor metrology test, biotechnology, photonics, digital flow control and micropositioning. The biotechnology business unit designs and manufactures automated digital image capture and image processing systems for the bioresearch and pharmacology markets.