Optimize your live cell imaging

Discover confocal scanning microscopes from ZEISS

Wether you are working in developmental biology, cell biology, neuroscience or other life sciences related fields, we want to enable you to get to the limits of confocal imaging:

See the smallest details: Resolve structures of 120 nm (in x,y) and 350 nm (in z)
Track the fastest processes: Acquisition speeds of 27 fps (at 480x480, LSM 880 in Fast mode)
Protect your sample and save time: Acquire the entire fluorescent spectra of all your labels at once
Minimize phototoxicity: Remove autofluorescence and simultaneously separate highly overlapping fluorophores in a single scan

See how these capabilities can translate into new insights and improve your research with our 32 page ebook "Optimizing your live-cell microscopy: Tricks and trade-offs" in collaboration with Science.

Use the form on the right side to download your free version for a limited time.

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Discover how you can profit in your research field

Developmental Biology

Imaging in 3D, multiple colors and over time

Gain 1.7× higher resolution in all three dimensions – resulting in a 5× smaller confocal volume
Use demanding techniques such as spectral imaging and linear unmixing
Save time on investigations into localization and interaction of proteins that require multiple fluorescent labels: collect all these signals in one go
Perform simultaneous spectral detection in a single scan with the highest number of descanned or non descanned channels – including GaAsP technology
Benefit from large fields of view and the highest speed of any linear scanning confocal – up to 27 fps (480x480 pixels, LSM 880 in Fast mode)

Cell Biology

Confocals, your workhorses for 3D imaging

Photo-activatable dyes and fluorescence proteins allow you to measure the dynamics and localization of protein populations over time
Fluorescence correlation studies within cells provide you with valuable information on protein clustering and dynamics
Oversampling with 30 percent longer sampling time
Benefit from faster scan rates and consistent image conditions, guaranteed by ultra-stable laser excitation and Definite Focus
Your FRAP and photoactivation experiments profit from tools for manipulating freely definable ROIs with individual settings

Neuroscience Research

Scaling deep into tissues

Profit from 34-channel parallel imaging across the complete wavelength to monitor up to 10 dyes simultaneously
Combine laser scanning functionality with an outstanding imaging depth thanks to nonlinear optics
Record intact neuronal networks in living animals or thick tissue specimens
To render brain tissue virtually transparent while preserving fluorescent proteins you apply clearing methods such as 'Scale' to your sample
In combination with a range of special clearing objectives, you image to a depth of almost six millimeters within your tissue

See how our customers are using ZEISS confocal microscopes

A cricket embryo. This is an egg-stage 22 Gryllus bimaculatus embryo, stained with phalloidin coupled to Alexa488.

Sample courtesy of: Cassandra Extavour, Harvard University, USA.

Differentiated cell types - Images courtesy: Holly Aaron, UC Berkeley, hollya@berkeley.edu

Differentiated cell types formed (predominately olfactory sensory neurons) two weeks after basal stem cells have been activated (green).

The DNA of cells actively dividing (labeled with EdU) is shown in blue. Autoflourescence in the 405 channel shows the contour of the tissue. Olfactory sensory neuron dendrites project to the luminal/apical surface, and their axons project and bundle together at the basal surface en route to the olfactory bulb.

Images courtesy: Holly Aaron, UC Berkeley, hol lya @berkeley .edu

Color coded maximum intensity projection of the central nervous system of an embryo, Drosophila melanogaster.
The very compact and bright parts of the CNS as well the fine and less densely stained structures of the peripheral nervous system can be nicely imaged with low laser power.

Courtesy of Dr. Julia Sellin, AG Hoch, LIMES Institut, Bonn.

Drosophila brain; triple antibody staining: Alexa 488, Alexa 568 and Alexa 633; Maximum Intensity Projection

Sample: courtesy of D. Reiff, Institute of Biology, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany

Plant root (Arabidopsis thaliana), PIN1 (red), PIN4 (green), DAPI (blue) acquired with LSM 800, scale bar 20µm

Sample: courtesy of T. Pasternak, Institute of Biology, Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg, Germany

Unipolar brush cell - Copyright: Carolina Borges-Merjane, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU)

Unipolar brush cell - biocytin fill with patch clamp electrode (green) + mGluR1α antibody (red); sample is 300µm cerebellum section.

Sample courtesy of: Carolina Borges-Merjane, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).

Hypopharyngeal gland secretory cell, Copyright: Otto Baumann Institut für Biochemie und Biologie, Zoophysiologie, Universitat Potsdam, Germany

Hypopharyngeal gland secretory cell of the worker bee (Apis mellifera), cryosectioned and labelled with AlexaFluor 488-phalloidin (green) and 2°AB-Cy3 membrane marker (magenta). The ring-like structures (green) have a diameter of about 2.5 µm. This gland produces the royal jelly for feeding to young queens.

Courtesy of: Otto Baumann, University of Potsdam, Germany

Choanoflagellate rosette colony. Choanoflagellate species isolated from Mono Lake. Single cells forming a colony, stained with Hoechst to mark the nuclei, tubulin to stain the flagella and cell body, and phalloidin which marks the actin microvilli collars of every cell.

Images courtesy: Kayley Hake. King Lab. University of California, Berkeley.

Neurons involved in escape behavior in zebrafish. Standard deviation Z projection of an image stack of zebrafish 5 days post fertilization larva expressing GCaMP5 in spinal cord glycinergic neurons and in the vasculature.

Image courtesy: Holly Aaron, UC Berkeley, hol lya @berkeley .edu

Purkinge cell - Image courtesy of: Carolina Borges-Merjane, Oregon Health & Science University

Purkinge cell expressing Td-tomato; sample is 40µm brain section (cerebellum).

Carolina Borges-Merjane, Oregon Health & Science University.
Contact info: glog owsk @ohsu .edu

Mouse brain, cleared with CLARITY. Neurons labeled with Thy1-GFP. Acquired with Axio Examiner.Z1 and LSM 800.

Courtesy of T. Ruff, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany.

Living Pig Kidney Epithelial cells - Courtesy of Prof. Michael Davidson, FSU Tallahassee

Living Pig Kidney Epithelial cells (LLC-PK1), green: Tubulin-eGFP, red: h2b-mCherry; Imaged with ZEISS LSM 800 with Airyscan, Plan-Apochromat 63x/1.4 OilCell line.

Image courtesy of: Prof. Michael Davidson, FSU Tallahassee.

Beetle of the genus Circocerus - Dr. Jan Michels, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and Zoological Institute, Kiel University

Beetle of the genus Circocerus, collected from leaf litter in the Peruvian lowland Amazon rainforest.

Dr. Jan Michels, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and Zoological Institute, Kiel University. Sample provided by Dr. Joseph Parker and imaged by Dr. Jan Michels with ZEISS LSM 800

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