Dragonfly High Speed Confocal Microscope Systems​

Cell Biology

The high sensitivity, low phototoxicity/ photobleaching and speed are ideal features for live cell imaging applications such as microtubule dynamics or intracellular organelle trafficking

With B-TIRF researchers can address live events at the edge of the coverslip, such as vesicle fusion or membrane receptor trafficking. B-TIRF delivers increased signal to noise in SMLM applications

The HLE can be used in combination with any imaging modality (confocal, widefield and B-TIRF) for SMLM applications, such as ultrastructural organisation of organelles, chromatin and epigenetic organisation, mitochondrial membrane structure.

Cancer Research

Dragonfly allows researchers to study cancer cell behaviour interaction with the environment and spatial distribution of the tumor both in fixed and live cells.

• Gentle imaging: view live images of cancer tissues for hours or days
• High-speed acquisition and optimized pinhole spacing: image fast and deep into thick tissues or organoids

Image credit: Julien Rességuier at NorMIC (University of Oslo)

Developmental Biology

Dragonfly's optimized pinhole size allows imaging very deep into thick organisms - up to the millimetre range.

• Borealis™ uniform illumination and stitching: visualise the complete organism as if it were a single snapshot
• Cross-scale imaging: a single stitched snapshot contains all information from both high and low magnification simultaneously
• Exceptional sensitivity and speed: image delicate processes for hours or days
• Multipoint technology: image high-speed events in confocality, such as blood flow or cilia beating during development

Transcriptomics and Proteomics

Omics research is used for multiple applications, such as predicting disease progression based on gene expression mappings, assessing tumor microenvironments and cancer severity, etc.

Omics-related sciences gather information about Xⁿ biological molecules to characterize and quantify entire pools of molecules.

Dragonfly's highly sensitive detectors, exceptionally high background rejection, acquisition speed and Uniform illumination make it the perfect system for Omics applications

Microbiology and Virology

The resolution and sensitivity delivered by Dragonfly 600 makes it a unique system for studying micro-organisms:

• Gentle illumination allows imaging growing yeast or fungus culture for very long times
• B-TIRF modality allows live insights into virus-host infections
• Exploit super-resolution capabilities to study the microworld of fungus, yeast and bacteria and extend knowledge about the biology of infection and host-pathogen interactions

B-TIRF

Borealis Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence (B-TIRF) is Andor’s patented TIRF module available on Dragonfly 600. Applications include a) Image dynamic events at the edge of the coverslip (e.g. membrane fusion events, receptor signalling, and infection dynamics) or b) Increasing the signal-to-background ratio in SMLM imaging.

• Uniform illumination - quanitfy protein intensity across a large field of view
• Configurable to user needs. Supports both 60x and 100x TIRF objective lenses
• Improved imaging quality - Borealis illumination delivers TIRF imaging delivers excellent results even in the presence of o optical contaminations
• High-quality results with a simple set up - achieve TIRF imaging conditions in an instant.

Super-Resolution: Localization Microscopy

With Dragonfly you can select from a number of super-resolution approaches all from the same imaging system. Resolutions down to 6 nm can be achieved.

• The HLE (High Power Laser) delivers high-power densities for single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) applications such as dSTORM and DNA-PAINT
• The 3D super resolution optics delivers axial information over 1 µm range in a single image
• 3D Super Resolution Module is compatible with all imaging modalities (widefield, B-TIRF and confocal)

Super-Resolution: SRRF Stream+

SRRF (Super-Resolution Radial Fluctuations) offers a highly effective, one-click, software-based approach to super-resolution imaging. Our exclusive development, SRRF-Stream+, accelerates processing by delivering real-time super-resolution.

• Ideal for live cell imaging
• Increase resolution deep inside your sample (Compatible with thick samples)
• Use standard fluorescent labels (No need for specific sample preparation)
• Compatible with any imaging modality (widefield, TIRF and confocal imaging)

Widefield Fluorescence

Laser-illuminated widefield fluorescence is ideal for studies that do not benefit from confocal imaging. Dragonfly users can easily change to widefield mode, with no need to switch microscope ports. ​

• Image yeast, bacteria and very thin samples​
• Image light-sensitive samples while minimizing the illumination power and maximizing photon collection ​
• Collect all the photons when every photon counts e.g. single molecule imaging
• Combine with SRRF-Stream+ or Clear View GPU-powered deconvolution to increase signal to noise and resolution

Transmitted Light Microscopy

All imaging modalities can be combined with transmitted light techniques (DIC or phase contrast) to expand your imaging capabilities even further. DIC or Phase Contrast can be used in a variety of ways including:​

• Label free imaging of biological samples​
• An extra reference channel as part of your regular fluorescence imaging protocols

Picasso

We have worked with Picasso developers to allow Imaris .ims files to be read in Picasso. Users have the flexibility to go to open-source software to retrieve SMLM data and 3D SMLM localizations. 

3D rendering and statistical measurements are then delivered in Imaris. Please read our article on the acquisition to analysis workflow.

Analysis

Dragonfly models come with the introductory Imaris Quant package for users to:

• Visualise their 2D/3D/4D images in the world’s leading interactive microscopy image analysis software.
• Identify and characterize objects within their images via traditional intensity-based and AI methods.
• Report counts, morphology metrics, intensity values, and many more statistics to find differences across images and experiments.
• Create high-resolution snapshots and multi-dimensional movies with ease.

Additional Imaris modules are also available including tools for tracking and reporting motility metrics, quantifying cells and their intracellular organelles, and tracing neurons for reporting their specific characteristics.