Nikon Instruments Inc. | News | US News | Bioscience Products Fact Sheet

Bioscience Products Fact Sheet

Description

Nikon Instruments Inc is a world leader in the development and manufacture of optical and digital imaging technology for bioscience applications. Now in its 91st year, Nikon provides complete optical systems that offer optimal versatility, performance and productivity. Cutting-edge instruments include microscopes, precision measuring equipment, wafer inspection systems digital imaging products and software. Nikon Instruments is the microscopy and industrial instrumentation arm of Nikon Inc., the world leader in digital imaging, precision optics and photo imaging technology.

Executive Team

Yoshinobu Ishikawa – President and CEO
Lee C. Shuett - Executive Vice President
Stanley A. Schwartz - Vice President, Microscopy Product/Marketing Division
Stephen T. Ross - Senior Scientist and Manager of Products & Technology
Jim Hamlin – Division Manger, National Microscopy Sales Division
Eric S. Flem - Communications Manager

Key Products

Ti-E Inverted Microscope System with Perfect Focus System (PFS) – a powerful system that provides instant access to TIRF, confocal, FRET, photoactivation and microinjection techniques plus the revolutionary CFI60 optics. Available in three models, the Ti series offers improved system speed, increased flexibility and efficient multi-mode microscopy as part of a fully-integrated microscope system that is ideal for high-end research and live cell imaging. PFS, the second place winner of The Scientist’s Top Innovations of 2008 Award, is designed to combat thermal and mechanical focus drift and keeps cells alive and in focus during long-term, live-cell experiments.

A1 Confocal – The A1 series features the ultimate in confocal microscopes. It improves time, spatial and spectral resolutions and realizes high resolution. The A1R’s hybrid scanner with an additional high-speed resonant scanner supports advanced research methods using photo activation fluorescence protein. Its new ergonomic user-friendly design facilitates live-cell work and a huge array of new imaging strategies. Together with NIS-Elements C, the A1 series provides fast acquisition for long periods and large images that can be easily viewed and archived.

VAAS Detection System – exclusive to the A1 series of confocal microscope systems, this technology aids in post-acquisition recovery of photon data lost to the physical pinhole size. It also allows for virtually adjusting the confocality and sensitivity, collecting more photons during initial image acquisition.

AZ100 C1si – The AZ100 C1si is a macro confocal microscope combining the best of stereo and compound microscopes into a single hybrid imaging system for dynamic imaging of single cells or whole specimens. This new macro confocal microscope system offers the highest resolution macro confocal imaging with rapid, real time and high accuracy unmixing options, allowing large fields of view and broad magnification of large samples. The AZ100 C1si offers a level of flexibility, speed and spectral capability not available in conventional confocal systems, with detectors for both traditional fluorescence and spectral imaging in a wide range of applications, particularly whole specimens. The AZ100 C1si also boasts simultaneous 32 channel spectral image acquisition over a spectral range of 320nm in a single scan, providing the researcher with super fast, high quality and continuous spectral imaging content. In addition to the AZ100, the C1si is also compatible with Nikon’s Eclipse 80i/90i, Eclipse Ti-E/U, Eclipse TE2000-E/U/PFS and Eclipse FN1.

ChromoDynamics HSi-300 – An agreement between Nikon and ChromoDynamics, Inc. enables Nikon to deliver this high performance hyperspectral imaging technology to its users. Paired with Nikon’s NIS-Elements software platform, the HSi-300 will more effectively address removal of auto-fluorescence, permit use of fluorescence microscopy techniques on even the most closely spaced dyes and quickly and easily separate multiple probes (>3). The new combined platform will also permit easier and more accurate morphological and component differentiation for biological research and medical diagnostic applications. This offering brings an affordable and fast spectral imaging solution to widefield microscopy, including Nikon’s Eclipse 90i and Ti series of microscopes. It is compatible with multi-dimensional experiments and uses Nikon’s proprietary powerful spectral unmixing algorithms.

FN1 “PhysioStation” with OCT – Nikon and ThorLabs, Inc. collaborate to bring Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) to Nikon’s FN1 “PhysioStation” upright focusing nosepiece microscope system. Ideal for neuroscience and electrophysiology applications, the new OCT system enables an imaging depth of 2-3 mm in biological tissue with a larger field of view than in conventional microscopy. The unique design allows the full use of traditional microscope techniques such as DIC and Epifluorescence together with the new OCT-style imaging for targeting morphology in a 3D view. The rapid scanning OCT system was customized by ThorLabs specifically for Nikon’s FN1 microscope system. It offers 3D imaging capabilities based on a relatively low magnification objective, making the full system ideal for live-animal imaging.

BioStation – The BioStation CT (Cell-Tracking) is a cell culture observation system that simplifies stable cultivation and quality control for live cells and is essential to work in the neuroscience field. Nikon also offers the BioStation IM (Cell Imaging) system, which is a time-lapse imaging system that takes images of live cells at fixed intervals and combines them to allow for observation of the cell as a moving image. Both of these systems facilitate highly reliable data management.

NIS-Elements Software - Nikon's NIS-Elements revolutionizes imaging software for the microscopy market by combining automated intelligence to microscopes, cameras, components and peripherals with powerful archiving, analysis, visualization and archiving tools. Its intuitive interface simplifies workflow and speeds up image acquisition times while providing powerful features such as image stitching, object counting and volume views.