News

Nikon Instruments’ groundbreaking integrated incubator and microscope system, the BioStation IM, has now been enhanced by the launch of the Hi-Q4 dish for high-end microscopic analysis of fixed or living cells. Ideal for both the BioStation IM and any biological microscope, the Hi-Q4 enables high resolution cell imaging of up to four experiments run in parallel in the same dish.

The high optical quality of the dish is similar to that of glass, enabling fluorescence, and phase contrast imaging, as well as easy and safe handling. The low height of the Hi-Q4 dish allows the use of high N.A. objectives for optimum performance and easy micromanipulation.

The novel design eliminates the problem of meniscus effect in all four chambers, enabling imaging all the way up to each of the separator walls and maximizing use of the sample.

Hi-Q4 dishes are available with surfaces treated for tissue culture, guaranteeing optimal growth and proliferation. A lockable lid minimizes evaporation, while gas can penetrate through the base, allowing long-term cell culture and analysis. The Hi-Q4 dishes have an average shelf life of two and a half years.

Location points have been incorporated into the design of the dishes for ‘future-proofing’, so that later models and software versions of BioStation IM will automatically be able to define, save and register images to a particular quadrant of the dishes.