AX / AX R with NSPARC

Pascal Lorentz
Dr. Michael Abanto

Director of the Nikon Center of Excellence
Head of the Microscopy Core Facility

Research Outline: Immunology and infectious diseases, neurosciences, cancer biology, and tissue development and regeneration.

Matthew Kofron, Ph.D.
Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Alicia Ostmann
Cincinnati Cystic Fibrosis Theratyping Research Center

Kentaro Iwasawa, M.D.
Takebe Lab, Division of Gastroenterology

Research Outline: Child health improvement. Organoid creation. Drug efficacy for cystic fibrosis patients.

Professor Friedmann Kiefer, Ph.D.

Department of Intravital Molecular Imaging

Research Outline: Elucidation of how molecular mechanisms shape human cells and tissues biologically. Multiscale imaging.

Dr. Hu Zhao, Principal Investigator

Research Outline: New tissue clearing methods, and building a neural connectome mapping platform based on these methods.

Professor Won Do Heo, Ph.D.

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Outline: Optogenetic and bio-imaging technologies.

Tetsuhisa Otani, Ph.D. Assistant Professor

Division of Cell Structure

Research Outline: Epithelial tissue.

Hiroaki Miki, Professor
Yosuke Funato, Associate Professor
Osamu Hashizume, Assistant Professor

Division of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Department of Cellular Regulation

Research Outline: Analyzing the function of a membrane protein molecule called Cyclin M, which plays a role in ejecting magnesium ions from cells.

The origin of NSPARC is in the IIT (Italian Institute of Technology). We interviewed Professor Alberto Diaspro, Dr. Paolo Bianchini, and Dr. Giuseppe Vicidomini, who worked on research and development at the Nikon Imaging Center and the Molecular Microscopy and Spectroscopy Lab in the IIT.

NSPARC enables super-high-speed scanning with unprecedented high resolution for observation and acquisition of images, showing even the slightest of changes in living cells. Its developers spoke of their ambitious challenge of aiming higher.

The AX/AX R confocal microscope system is designed to let anyone customize freely according to their usage. To find out more, we spoke to those in charge of product planning and design about the stories behind how they pursued software operability, as well as hardware performance improvements.