Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy and Imaging System

The Alba FCS™ instrument, manufactured by ISS (Champaign IL), is a dual-channel spectrometer that combines a laser scanning mirror module and a Nikon inverted confocal microscope with fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). Optimized for single-photon excitation, the system utilizes a single-photon avalanche photodiode detector for the collection of light at extremely low levels. Currently a diode laser (470 nm) is available for light excitation. The microscope is equipped with a 60x 1.2NA water objective and a 100x 1.4NA oil objective. The Vista software package, from ISS, is used for the acquisition of FCS, raster imaging correlation spectroscopy (RICS) and 3D imaging, and the analysis of autocorrelation function. Applications of this system include molecular dynamics measurements, acquisition of kinetic rate constants, visualization of antibody-antigen interactions, ligand-receptor interaction, nucleic acid hybridization and chemical reactions at the single-molecule level. This system was funded with a DURIP grant from the Army Research Office to Dr. Paul Braun and a generous grant from the Beckman Foundation.

ITG users may reserve time on this instrument using the Micro-Spectroscopy Workstation Calendar.