Bruker, a manufacturer of scientific instruments for molecular and materials research, as well as for industrial and applied analysis, announced the launch of the Opterra II multipoint scanning confocal microscope, which represents the next generation of quantitative live-cell microscopes.

The Opterra II’s low photo-toxicity and photo-bleaching capabilities deliver significant advantages over today’s spinning disk confocal approaches, including enabling time-lapsed volumetric studies on previously inaccessible specimens. This performance is achieved through the system’s unique ability to optimize an experiment’s imaging conditions through real-time adjustment of imaging speed, resolution, and sensitivity. Additionally, the Opterra II provides sub-10 per cent field uniformity deviation, allowing quantitative analysis, in all dimensions, as a standard feature.

“In a matter of a few hours after setup of the system we were collecting publication-quality data with Opterra II,” said Dr. William Bement, chair of laboratory cell and molecular biology at the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, WI.

“The speed of the system, coupled with its photo-activation capabilities allowed us to collect data, and see interactions, that we had theorised about but had not seen until now. Opterra II has allowed us to overcome obstacles that have impeded our research for the past 5 years.”

“Making quantitative optical performance ‘standard,’ while enhancing the microscope’s ease and flexibility of operation, all while expanding the applications space into longer term live-cell studies, were our key design challenges for the Opterra II,” explained Stephen C. Minne, Ph.D., general manager of Bruker's fluorescence microscopy business.

“Early customer feedback on the system’s performance, as well as the versatility of its new high-speed filter wheel and bypass module, is that the Opterra II is leap-frogging currently available technology.”